There are just a few hours to the start of the 2021 European Championships which will open on Friday 11 June with the match at the Olympic Stadium in Rome between Italy and Turkey. Before the debut, the coach of the Italian national team, Roberto Mancini, wanted to write a long letter addressed to Italy on his social profiles: a way to close ranks and at the same time promise his and his men the utmost commitment in view of the upcoming continental tournament which, in the words of the same coach from Jesi, “it represents moments of union of millions of Italians and moments of joy that for a moment will make us forget the year just ended“.
The Italian coach in his long pre-European missive in fact started from afar, precisely from 12 October 2019, when his Italy won the qualification for the European Championship initially scheduled for the summer of 2020 before the Covid-19 pandemic. forced the postponement of one year:
“It seems an eternity since we got the qualification that evening at the Olimpico against Greece, it was October 2019, we were euphoric and before us the opportunity to return to the Olimpico a few months later and take away a great sporting satisfaction with the itinerant European Championship – reads the opening letter of the letter written by the Italian coach -. 2020 was supposed to be the year of great satisfaction, the year in which to share a joy together, but we all know how it went ” .
A year that inevitably upset everyone’s life, as Mancini himself underlines in the continuation of his letter addressed to Italy:
“It was a year in which we changed our habits, for some it was months away from the people we love, unfortunately someone lost the people they love. Months in which the simplest things became complex. For none it was easy. , yet each in their own way has made it. The consequences of the global pandemic are still evident and they will have to be strong for a while “.
And according to the coach himself, Italy’s participation in the upcoming European Championships can represent a means to allow millions of Italians to forget for a while the problems faced in this last troubled year and a half:
“Sport in these moments, as I have said more than once, is an essential tool in our life. It can help us feel better, it can help us to temporarily disconnect from some complicated thoughts or moments. Sport can give us many positive emotions. Never as now we are in dire need of it – writes Roberto Mancini – “.
And it is precisely for this reason that he promises the utmost commitment, his of the blue staff and of the 26 players, in honoring Italy in every minute that the national team will be on the field in these European Championships:
“Our National team, in the European Championship that will start in a few hours, is aware of representing a fantastic and determined people, and for this reason I, together with the staff and the 26 guys who will take the field, will use all the minutes of this event to honor the Country we represent. We know that our matches will be a moment of union of millions of Italians. They will be moments of joy that for a moment will make us forget the year just ended “.
Promise reaffirmed by the Italian coach also in the final part of his open letter addressed to Italy on the eve of the first Euro 2020 match against Turkey, before asking for the support of all Italians in view of the prestigious continental tournament:
“This is why we will go to play this event aware of the strength of the blue jersey and of the Italian people. We will honor every minute, we will take the field with the carefree nature of when you are a kid and you start playing football, but also with the responsibility of those who represent one of the strongest and most beautiful countries in the world – we read in fact in conclusion -. United under a single blue sky, wearing the blue shirt, let’s join together in a single chorus that unites more than 60 million Italians: FORZA AZZURRI! “.