Giorgio Chiellini felt that England ‘were under more pressure’ than Italy heading into the Euro 2020 final and suggested that a draw was the right result.
The Three Lions reached their first major final since the 1966 World Cup last summer, setting up a match against the Azzurri for the European Championship at Wembley. Despite the home support and the early lead, Gareth Southgate’s side failed to hold on, losing painfully on penalties as Italy lifted their first trophy since the 2006 World Cup.
Speaking to The Times, Chiellini discussed his relationship with Juventus and Italy teammate Leonardo Bonucci.
“My twin on the pitch! I have a twin brother in real life but a second one in football. When you touch and share joy it gives energy to each other, improves your connection and performance.
“In a game when we’re under pressure and have to do many clearances and saves, my emotions are higher. When we win 3-0 it’s ok. I have a rest day. But it’s not much fun.”
The Bianconeri veteran then gave his thoughts on England and their performance in the Euro 2020 final last summer.
“They were under more pressure than us and sometimes pressure is a fuel, but sometimes it’s an obstacle. We felt those feelings. We felt this fear. Well, maybe not fear, but their nerves, this tension.
“At half-time our dressing room was calm. If we have the ball, surely we’ll score. Surely we will find the solution. Keeping hold of our emotion was the most important thing for us. And we were lucky in penalty kicks. A draw was the right result for that game.”
The 37-year-old Chiellini, who is contracted to the Bianconeri until 2023, has made 16 appearances across all competitions so far this season, for a total of 1099 minutes. In that time, he has helped the side keep seven clean sheets, missing large parts of the season due to injury.
"I’m not aggressive. Now, the enemy is not an enemy, he’s a friend playing against me, and I understand that if I don’t lose my energy fighting, I’m more lucid and concentrate better."
Giorgio Chiellini reveals the art of his craft to @JNorthcroft https://t.co/J6EVMogIE3
— Times Sport (@TimesSport) March 13, 2022
Genius at mind games.
Why this talk now…
All a prelude to ready the Azzurri for the World Cup playoffs, knowing the final will be in Turkey or Portugal.
Italy dominated the Euro final on stats, England had 75k home advantage, and Italy deservedly won, yet he’s backtracking saying it was pressure on England and a draw was fair (we all know this isn’t true even the English pundits said Italy were the better team as much as it pained them to lose).
Got to love him for this, almost has become a master at it.
Watch how he’ll carry on during the playoffs, obviously Macedonia is first and a game they have to focus after that and all going well, he’ll be putting the pressure on Turkey and Portugal for being home and likening it Euro final.
A gentleman and master defender… The last of his kind. He did this interview for the Times so maybe he overrated the English position. He’s right that England had more pressure because whenever they get into a tournament, they go onto the pitch with the whole country, their history, 2 world wars, ’66, the Queen and potential knighthoods resting on their shoulders. If it’s 11 v 11 and left at that, they might have achieved more by now. Instead, look at Italy…most of the time the nation isn’t behind them and doesn’t expect them to do much, so they win 4 World Cups and 2 Euros and clock up further 4 finals to boot. Mangiate pasta.