The hero who made Italy the champion

The hero who made Italy the champion

Roberto Mancini could not make history for the Italian national team as a player. However, he is writing this history as an instructor.

Italy, which was knocked out of the World Cup qualifiers, has won important titles in just three years. It also shows how important Mancini's strategy was for the team.

Italy beat England in a tiebreaker in the Euro Cup final on Sunday to win the title. The game was pushed to a tiebreaker after the result was tied in the allotted time and extra 30 minutes. Winning a tiebreaker game is also very important with luck. However, the 56-year-old coach Mancini has done his best to win the title.

In the final, the England coach's plans backfired, while Mancini's plans proved to be correct. Which, of course, made the video an overnight sensation.

As England took the lead in the second minute of the game, Mancini kept the team fit by changing some players in the middle of the 120-minute game. Which had a positive effect on the game. Italy played the same game throughout the game. Italy ended the first half without playing very aggressively against the home team.

Early in the second half, Mancini brought in Brian Cristant to replace Niccolo Barela in midfield. Similarly, center forward Ciro replaced Dominico Berardi with Immobile.

After that, Italy started increasing the pressure in the game. Kristan's presence gave the Italian team more energy in the central midfield, with the help of which Italy managed to return the shot.

Overall, Italy's setup on Sunday was very good. He held the ball 62 percent of the time, hitting 20 for the goal. England had a total of six strikes. Italy played 755 passes while England played 341 passes.

Defensive power

Italy's defensive power is also known in football, led by Giorgio Chiellini. England scored in the first two minutes but could not attack after that. It also shows Italy's defensive strength.

Mancini did not hesitate to change the key player who started the game after 90 minutes. In the 90th minute of the match, Lorenzo Insigne was replaced by Andrei Bellotti and six minutes later, Manuel Lokateli replaced Marco Verratti. However, no changes were made to the squad for England. The benefits went to Italy.

In the Euro Cup, Mancini has shown qualities that have not been noticed before. In the semi-final match against Spain, he also led his team with patience. Italy had won the game in the tiebreaker. He showed that quality once again.

In 1968, Ferrero-Waldner won the Euro Cup with Italy. Then Mancini is the first coach. Italy is also unbeaten in 34 games. "We've completed a cycle," said Mancini, noting the success of the three-year period.

He has the opportunity to extend his journey to next year's World Cup in Qatar.

Scaloni, the hero who made Argentina champions: played with Messi in the 2006 World Cup

 Lionel Messi, the best player of this generation, was the talk of the town as Argentina broke the 28-year international title drought and won the Copa America on Sunday. It was also natural. Messi had previously lost four finals for the national team. Succeeded in the fifth attempt and won the first major title in his 16-year international career.

Messi's stigma of winning the Copa Championship with the Spanish club Barcelona and winning some in Argentina has now been removed.

Forward Sergio Aguero and midfielder Angel Di Maria, who lost in three finals with Messi, also won the first title for the senior team. Defender Nicolas Otamenti had also played in two previous Copa finals. He also won for the first time.

Other young players also won their first major international title.

The 28-year-old goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez has been instrumental in helping Argentina win the Copa since 1993. He was declared the best goalkeeper of the tournament and saved three penalties in a shootout against Colombia in the semi-final. After playing a total of 6 games, he kept a clean sheet in 4 games including the final.

This time Argentina won the title by playing well as a team unit.

Since winning the Copa in 1993, Argentina has won the Copa four times, the FIFA World Cup once and the Confederations Cup final twice. But this time, Argentina won the title by beating Brazil at home in the final.

The hero of Argentina's victory

Naturally, Messi was mentioned when Argentina won the title. He scored the most 4 goals in the tournament along with Luis Diaz. Messi also won the award for best player and top scorer.

Lionel Scaloni was the hero behind making Argentina the Copa champions.

Scalani, who is also a former Argentine player, had worked as Argentina's coach since 2018. In his first Copa in 2019, Argentina lost to Brazil in the semifinals. Two years later, the same Brazilian team was able to win the title by beating the final.

In 2018, Scaloni signed for Spanish club Sevilla as an assistant to Jose Sampaoli. After Somali became Argentina's coach in 2017, Scaloni also worked as an assistant.

However, Jose Sampaoli left the team after being knocked out of the last 16 of the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Scaloni was then selected as an acting coach. Pablo Aymar was also on the team with him.

He has played six games as Scaloni's acting coach. He was then appointed by the Argentine Football Association as Argentina's permanent coach until the 2019 Copa America.

Argentina finished third in the 2019 Copa. But Scaloni remained the coach.

Former champions Pablo Aymar, Roberto Ayla, and Walter Samuel were on the coaching staff along with Scaloni, who is now the champion. Although he did not win important titles as a player, he did win as a coach.

Scalini last played in the 2006 World Cup. Argentina lost to Germany in the quarterfinals in a penalty shootout.

Scalany had already started the basis for forming the current champion team. After losing to Brazil in the 2019 Copa semifinals, Argentina is now unbeaten in 20 games until the championship.

Argentina, who lost the last game to Brazil, has lost to same Brazil twice. In November 2019, Argentina lost to Brazil. After that, Argentina broke the journey of Brazil, which was unbeaten for 13 games, this time in the Copa final.

Since Scaloni became coach, Argentina has won 20 of 34 games. Similarly, 10 matches have been drawn and only 4 matches have been lost. After Scaloni took over, Argentina lost to Brazil and Venezuela in friendly matches. Similarly, in the 2019 Copa, they lost to Colombia and Brazil.

Scaloni, who gave Argentina its first title in 28 years, said it was a big one.

From Team Mate to Champion

Lionel Scalani won his first major title as a coach and Lionel Messi as his player. But many may not know that these two were teammates in the national team at some point. They even played together for Argentina.

Interestingly, the current superstar and Argentina captain Messi played for the first time in the same World Cup that was Scaloni's last. The two were part of the Argentine team at the 2006 World Cup.

And what's more, Scalani and Messi even got a chance to play together in that World Cup. In the pre-quarterfinal match against Mexico, Scaloni spent the whole time playing in the first selection. Messi replaced Savior in the 84th minute.

The 2023 Champions League final will be held in Istanbul, Turkey

The final of the 2023 European Champions League will be played in Istanbul, Turkey. UEFA, the apex body of European football, has decided to hold 2023 final in Istanbul.

Earlier, due to Corona, the final of the 2020-21 season was moved to Porto, Portugal. Therefore, UEF has decided to allow the Olympic Stadium of Ataturk, Turkey to host 2023 final.

UEFA has also decided to hold the group stage draw of the next two seasons of Champions League, Europa League, and Europa Conference League in Istanbul.

2022 final will be played at the St. Petersburg Stadium in Russia.

Earlier, the final of 2023 was said to be held in Munich, Germany. The final of 2025 will be held in Munich, Germany.

Similarly, the final of 2024 will be held at Wembley Stadium in England, according to UEFA.

Dublin, Ireland, which lost the right to host Euro 2020, will host the 2024 Euro League final. Spain's Bilbao will host the 2024 Women's Champions League final and the 2025 Men's Europa League final.

The 2022 Europa League final will be held in Seville, Spain and the 2023 Europa League final will be held in Budapest, Hungary.