Gianluca Vialli was spotted being left behind by the Italy team bus, but it’s a superstitious routine that has been repeated throughout UEFA EURO 2020 entirely on purpose.
The Final against England kicks off at Wembley Stadium on Sunday at 20.00 UK time.
The squad left the Coverciano training ground for the last time this morning, arriving in England at Luton Airport.
Footage went viral of the Italy team bus ‘forgetting’ Vialli and driving away before realising the error and coming back to pick him up, or at least that’s what it looked like.
In fact, this is a superstitious routine that started ahead of the opening game of the competition, a 3-0 victory over Turkey.
The bus really had started to drive off without Roberto Mancini’s trusted assistant at the Coverciano ground.
Since then, Vialli has insisted that they repeat the pattern every time the bus leaves the camp, with the driver closing the doors and driving a few metres before stopping to pick up the legend.
“That is a fine!”
The #ITA squad almost left their training base in Florence without assistant coach Gianluca Vialli! pic.twitter.com/m8RvXgj7kG
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) July 10, 2021