During the interview granted to today's edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport, Andrea Barzagli, a member of mister Baldini's technical staff with the Under 21 national team, emphasized what lessons can be taught to the boys.
"In sports, you can win and you can lose, you shouldn't have any regrets. The winning mentality is acquired... when you win. It's the desire to improve, to grow, because sometimes a victory makes you work less, but in fact it's exactly the opposite. You have to work harder."
The speech then focuses on Napoli. According to the former Juventus defender, Italy's champions shouldn't take this risk: "Let's say it has a coach who rarely gets it wrong on this." A thought also on the greatest players coached by Gennaro Gattuso, his former national team teammate and new technical commissioner of Italy: "Above all, a convinced Italy, with the right amount of nastiness. It was an important response from the group. A good start. I think Rino was also happy."
But what can Barzagli teach young defenders? "Unfortunately, it's an infamous role. You grow when you make mistakes, understand the error, and don't let yourself be fooled again. You improve in your reading, and you can only understand that in a game, so by playing. In Italy, we have a great tradition of defenders; even those who were already strong when young have improved even more with experience."