A cup of coffee is enough to describe the genius Roberto Mancini

DBasia.news – Former Italy defender Alessandro “Billy” Costacurta talks about Italy’s success under Roberto Mancini. According to him, he could predict the rise of Italy under Mancini by just drinking a cup of coffee together.

Mancini was appointed to coach Italy in 2018 replacing Gian Piero Ventura. It was not easy to revive Gli Azzurri after the disgrace of failing to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, especially with the team’s lack of confidence.

Mancini came in to replace Ventura, trusting young players in Italy’s development process and that reinassance showed results through achievements at Euro 2020.

Gli Azzurri won the 2020 European Cup by beating England via a penalty shootout 3-2, after the match ended in a 1-1 draw in normal time. The result added to Italy’s unbeaten record since Mancini coached 34 games in a row.

Costacurta in 2018 and then still served as Vice President of the FIGC, the Italian Football Federation. While looking for a replacement coach for Ventura, Costacurta met up with Mancini and had coffee together.

While talking and enjoying coffee at the hotel, Costacurta could already see Mancini (at that time coaching Zenit Saint Petersburg) as the right person to coach Italy.

“A choice almost by chance,” Costacurta said as quoted by Football-Italy.

“Roberto was in Rome with Zenit, in the same hotel as me. Over coffee we started talking and I immediately understood that he would be the ideal coach, who would give us a game and an international dimension.”

“That he would bring us out of the dark, even if I didn’t think that he would make it this far.”

“In my career I have had Leonardo da Vinci’s coach, Arrigo Sacchi: well, Mancini has the same courage and has shown it since his Serie A debut.”

“Roberto is a brave man who embodies many values. It’s enough to see this Italian champion without having an absolute star,” added the AC Milan legend.

Costacurta also believes that Italy has a bright future after winning the 2020 European Cup. Although the current squad already has players aged 30 years or older, such as Salvatore Sirigu, Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini, Francesco Acerbi, and Lorenzo Insigne, Mancini is believed to be able to regenerate him.

There are still players like Federico Chiesa, Manuel Locatelli, Alessandro Bastoni, Gianluigi Donnarumma, who can become the backbone of Italy in the future.

“We have the visionary Chiesa who has shown that he can become a star. Then there is Donnarumma, a true phenomenon, and the triangle of Bonucci, Chiellini and Jorginho that has proved decisive,” added Costacurta.

“This Italy can provide excitement for at least the next 10 years, behind four or five elements that are no longer young, there is a lot of material and Mancini knows how to make the most of it.”

“He knows very well all the young players’ choice of players, even during those chats three years ago he started talking to me about players who could be fundamental to relaunching the national team, which is why I immediately had no doubts that he would be a major player,” he explained.