Italy will be looking to put the disappointment of not qualifying for the World Cup behind them and start a new era for the Azzurri by beating Argentina in the ‘very final‘, the Italy players said on Tuesday.
Wednesday’s match between the European champions and the Copa America winners will be played at Wembley Stadium, where Italy triumphed over England on penalties last July to claim their second European Championship title.
But Italy’s joy turned to anguish eight months later when they failed to qualify for the World Cup for the second time in a row after losing in the playoffs to North Macedonia.
– ESPN+ Viewers Guide: LaLiga, Bundesliga, MLS, FA Cup, more
– Don’t you have ESPN? Get instant access
“We wrote history in this stadium, so we gave all Italians a great emotion,” Lorenzo Insigne told reporters.
“Tomorrow will be a very important game for us to start again and take Italy where it deserves” [to be] and where we always were.
However, Lionel Messi’s Argentina are not easy to convince, as the team went on a 31-match unbeaten run before the Wembley showdown.
Italy had set a world record of 37 matches without losing which came to an end in October last year when Spain beat Roberto Mancini’s side in the Nations League semi-finals.
“Argentina is one of the best national teams in the world,” defender Leonardo Bonucci said.
“It’s very rare in football to have this winning streak, like we had and like Argentina is doing. So you have to commit, be very respectful, be very aggressive to win this trophy.”
“Because as we have said, with this trophy we have to start over and lay the foundations to return Italy to where it deserves to be. [to be]where I was a year ago.
Mancini called the match between the two teams, which have won six World Cup titles between them, one of the “classic games of world football”.
“It will be a great match and it is a great tribute to many players, like Giorgio [Chiellini]who will leave the national team, and Argentine players who will soon leave the national team,” he said.
“So it’s going to be a big emotional game.”
Despite Italy failing to make it to the World Cup, Mancini’s Argentine counterpart Lionel Scaloini is expecting a tough test at Wembley.
“It is always important to face the best. Italy won the last European Championship,” he said at a press conference on Tuesday. “It is a team of the highest level that has been doing a great job. Italy was undeservedly left out of the World Cup. Now you can start almost from scratch. Mancini has given the team an identity that years ago he didn’t have. .”
And while Italy is ready to start a rebuild, for Argentina the focus is on maintaining its impressive momentum ahead of the World Cup in November.
“The important thing is not to believe that you are invincible,” Scaloni said. “It is good that people think that we are champions and that they enjoy what has been achieved, but the road continues, we cannot stop at that. We need to keep pushing forward and not relax.
“We would like to win tomorrow because it is a title, but the most important thing is the objective between now and November. We want to give continuity to our game. Playing with this shirt is always going out to play all the matches as equals. and compete to the fullest. That’s what we’re going to do tomorrow.”
Information from ESPN’s Adriana Garcia was used in this report.
Reference-www.espn.com