Italy hero Mattia Zaccagni admits some gamers harm their ribs whereas celebrating his aim towards Croatia on Monday however warns the Azzurri about ‘robust’ Switzerland.
Zaccagni spoke with UEFA’s official web site forward of an EURO 2024 Spherical of 16 tie towards Switzerland.
The Lazio star impressed Italy’s qualification to the knock-out part with a late equaliser towards Croatia.
“Nowadays have been intense. The aim was an ideal emotion,” stated the Italian winger.
“Clearly, we didn’t know we had to attract to qualify, however fortunately we made it. Now, we’re solely centered on getting ready for an important sport towards Switzerland.
“We all know the nationwide workforce can endure at occasions, however it emerges when it issues essentially the most. That’s exactly what we anticipate from ourselves.”
The Azzurri would have been eradicated with out Zaccagni’s aim as ends in the next two days would have pushed Italy outdoors the 4 finest third-placed.
Zaccagni reveals Italy gamers harm themselves whereas celebrating aim vs. Croatia
“I hadn’t even realised it was the final second,” continued Zaccagni, speaking about his aim.
“After I noticed Calafiori working with the ball and the Croatia defence shifting in the direction of the centre, I remained in my pure place, and after I acquired the ball, I didn’t give it some thought twice. The celebration was improbable. With all my teammates, the employees members and all the blokes. A few of us harm our ribs as a result of everybody crushed us. But it surely was actually thrilling.”
After the sport, Zaccagni acquired a name from his idol, Alessandro Del Piero.
“Alex has all the time been my idol, regardless that I knew him just a few days in the past, earlier than leaving for Germany,” admitted Zaccagni.
“Then, we spoke every so often earlier than and after the video games. I talked to him after the Croatia sport and he congratulated me. He was joyful for me. Sure, these two objectives actually are comparable.”
The Azzurri will meet Switzerland within the opening Spherical of 16 sport on the Euros tomorrow.
“We’ve seen Switzerland play lately, and they’re a tricky, very ready workforce,” warned Zaccagni.
“They’ve skilled gamers who play in our league. We all know we’ll want an ideal efficiency. They’ve proved to be a very good workforce collectively. They’re united, and we’ll want a wonderful efficiency to beat them.”
On paper, England and the Netherlands are the one high groups on Italy’s path to the ultimate as they’re on the identical facet of the bracket.
“After all, the draw is fairly beneficial, however we’ve already seen on this event that smaller groups are inflicting issues for the massive sides, so we should stay centered on one sport at a time,” concluded Zaccagni.
“Among the many surprises, I like Austria, however Switzerland are additionally very robust.”
Italy CT Luciano Spalletti will preview Saturday’s match at a pre-match press convention on Friday, joined by captain Gigio Donnarumma.
It’s nonetheless unclear whether or not Zaccagni will begin towards the Swiss, whereas Gianluca Scamacca appears the favorite to start out as a centre-forward.
