Daniele De Rossi admits Italy don’t have a standout star but “we have other features which many teams don’t”.
The Azzurri were not regarded as one of the favourites for Euro 2016, but Antonio Conte’s side have already won their group with one match to spare.
“You need balance when making judgements,” De Rossi said in a Press conference today.
“We don’t have individuals who catch the eye like [Eden] Hazard or [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic, but we have other features which many other teams don’t.
Daniele De Rossi admits Italy don’t have a standout star but “we have other features which many teams don’t”.
The Azzurri were not regarded as one of the favourites for Euro 2016, but Antonio Conte’s side have already won their group with one match to spare.
“You need balance when making judgements,” De Rossi said in a Press conference today.
“We don’t have individuals who catch the eye like [Eden] Hazard or [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic, but we have other features which many other teams don’t.
“We have great togetherness, and a good squad both emotionally and in terms of depth. A lot of teams have stars, but there’s a big gulf in quality between them and the reserves.
“We have balance between those who play and the substitutes. It was good that the spotlight wasn’t on us when we started.
“Conte? When I spoke about our qualities, I’d put that on him, because he brings balance and organisation, which matters more on the pitch than a player going one-on-one.
“We don’t care about what his future is [Conte is leaving to join Chelsea after the tournament], we knew it even before the start of this adventure.
“He’s not a CT who could stay with the national team for many years, he’s an animal who belongs on the pitch, I’d have been surprised if it was any other way.”
Ireland will be hoping that the Azzurri take their foot of the gas for the game, but De Rossi warns that won’t happen.
“It’s not a pointless game. We’ve already come first, but it’s a big game. We’ll turn a blind eye to the other games in the group, it’s important to finish with nine points.
“That’s also the case for those who haven’t played so far. We players are also a little bit selfish, those who haven’t played so far will hope to be protagonists in the coming games.
“Resting players? In the second halves we’ve run a lot. The second game [against Sweden] was more difficult, it was very hot. We maintained a high-level of aggression in the second half.
“The CT’s decisions are the CT’s decisions, it doesn’t matter whether they’re technical or tactical, I haven’t asked about either.
“We understand there are good players on the bench who can make their contribution, we’ll respect the choices.”