Leonardo Bonucci explains how Italy’s “first form of defence is attack” and reveals Juventus “will meet and talk” to Cristiano Ronaldo soon.
Bonucci recently overtook Alessandro Del Piero as Italy’s 10th most-capped player and will equal Inter legend Giancarlo Facchetti on 94 when the Azzurri face Bosnia-Herzegovina tomorrow.
“Reaching 94 caps like Facchetti is important for me,” he said at a Press conference.
Leonardo Bonucci explains how Italy’s “first form of defence is attack” and reveals Juventus “will meet and talk” to Cristiano Ronaldo soon.
Bonucci recently overtook Alessandro Del Piero as Italy’s 10th most-capped player and will equal Inter legend Giancarlo Facchetti on 94 when the Azzurri face Bosnia-Herzegovina tomorrow.
“Reaching 94 caps like Facchetti is important for me,” he said at a Press conference.
“I’m fired up as it is to reach Zambrotta’s 98. The important thing, then, is to show, against Bosnia that Italy treat every game in the same way.
“Of course, we’ll need desire and sacrifice to show we want to stay on our path with Mancini, who gave the Italian people their enthusiasm back.
“A lot has changed from the Sweden game, the coach but also the FIGC president who’s given us a breath of fresh air.
“Mancini’s very good at making us feel like a strong team, which we hadn’t felt like since our failure to qualify for the World Cup.
“It’s also thanks to a new philosophy: the first form of defence here is attack. It had been seen just before Mancini arrived.”
The defender is set to come up against Roma rival Edin Dzeko, whom he rates as a “truly great” striker.
“Dzeko’s a truly great, international-level player and not just for Bosnia. He’s done very well in so many different Leagues.
“He has physical strength, technique and ruthlessness in front of the goal: I really like him.
“However, we’ve studied the first game, where we suffered: now we know how to mark him better.”
Juve maintain Ronaldo has been struggling with a knee injury, yet he started and scored for Portugal during their Euro 2020 qualifier with Lithuania on Thursday.
“I like to look forward and not back. There will be time to talk, now I want to think about the national team.
“He will play with Portugal, meaning that he physically he’s better and mentally he’s great as ever.
“When we return to Turin, there will be a way to meet and talk. There are still many games where we’ll need the best Ronaldo.
“I’m convinced that his objective is to improve with respect to the past and help Juventus achieve all their objectives.”