How Mancini has rebuilt Italy from the Roman ruins
BOBBY MANC OUT TO LAY THE GHOST OF WORLD CUP HORRORS
FROM his love of art and fashion to Coronation Street, Roberto Mancini has always been a man of culture.
And the ex-Manchester City manager will take another important step in his renaissance of Italian football tonight with a team which increasingly matches his own sense of style.
The Azzurri return to the sold-out San Siro 12 months on from the humiliation of failing to reach the World Cup finals for the first time since 1958.
The unthinkable became a reality in Milan on November 13 last year when Italy failed to claw back a 1-0 first-leg play-off defeat by Sweden.
Since then, Mancini has slowly rebuilt the broken side. And appropriately for a former Blues boss, he has deployed blue-sky thinking on his return to his homeland after spells in England, Turkey and Russia.
Now he wants his newlook side to make amends for the Sweden debacle with a victory over Portugal to keep alive their chances of qualifying for the final four.
“I want an Italy team that attacks in a spectacular way, to also thank the San Siro public,” said Bobby Manc, as he is affectionately known by City fans. “I know they will come out in force and their support is very important.”
The great and the good of Italian football – Fabio Capello, Massimo Allegri, Paolo Maldini and Walter Mazzarri – will be in Milan to show solidarity with the national cause after a year of national mourning and introspection.
Since Mancini took over the four-time World Cup winners in May, results and performances have slowly improved with last month’s win over Poland his first competitive victory.
Midfielder Marco Verratti said: “The national team has got back on its feet from the blow of a year ago against Sweden. I like the philosophy of Mancini, I like playing with Jorginho, I like always having the ball to play with.”
Mancini played the Tinkerman in his first six games, making 43 changes. He called up Nicolo Zaniolo before he had made a single Serie A appearance for Roma, and Brescia’s long-haired Sandro Tonali – who has already been dubbed the new Andrea Pirlo – from Serie B.
But he has now settled on a 4-3-3 with Verratti and Jorginho allowing Cagliari’s Nicolo Barella, a midfielder linked with Tottenham, to race forward.
A reminder of the bad times came last week when former Italy coach Giampiero Ventura left Chievo after just four games in charge.
But Mancini said: “To say Italy has been healed is a big statement – I do not think she has ever been ill.
“We needed to do better to get out of a difficult moment.
“We must play good football and win the fans back. We are Italy.”