Roberto Mancini Italy vs Beglium
Roberto Mancini Italy

Italy boss Roberto Mancini has managed to revive the national team in the last couple of years and he will now have the chance to cap off his hard work by winning the European Championship when they face England.

The Azzurri go into this match as the second favourites but no team is more apt at cutting corners and making things happen when the odds are stacked against them.

But Mancini has warned his players that they will need to keep an eye out for a few things in order to get things right at Wembley on Sunday.

The first amongst them is Raheem Sterling since the Manchester City man has been in stellar form for England during the Euros and he could very easily turn out to be the ace up Southgate’s sleeve.

Raheem Sterling the deciding factor?

“England are a good side because they have a lot of good players on the bench. But if we’ve made it this far it also means we are a good team,” said Mancini, as quoted.

“Sterling is a footballer that’s come on leaps and bounds. He’s very pacey indeed so we need to be careful of him.

“Besides him, I’m not sure who will play on the right. Then there’s Harry Kane and in the final third they have all top players, they have terrific technique and ability.”

 

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Sterling has been a class apart in the last month for the national side, scoring three goals in six appearances in the European Championship. The forward also won the penalty courtesy which England knocked Denmark out in the semi-final so there’s no doubt that Di Lorenzo will have to on his toes on Sunday.

A physical battle from England:

The duo of Declan Rice and Kalvin Phillips have also received heavy praise during this tournament but Roberto Mancini believes the whole English side are capable of playing a robust game, something which could cause a problem for his side.

“I don’t think that England only have two very physical midfielders,” Mancini added. “They are a very physically capable side all across the pitch.

 

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“They are stronger than us from that perspective. But you play football with the ball on the deck, we hope we can do a better job on that score. We hope that those will be important qualities in a match tomorrow night.

“Occasionally the smaller guy wins and that’s happened to us in the past. We hope it happens this time around but we need to give it absolutely everything.”

Read: This English player could mess things up in the final vs Italy.

Read: England need to stop one Italian player if they wish to win the EURO final.

Read: 4-3-3 Italy’s predicted line-up vs England – EURO.

Read: England’s predicted line-up for the EURO final.

Read: England could very easily fall into Italy’s generation old trap in the final.