Antonio Conte gave a lengthy interview to BBC on the Euro and how he’s preparing for Chelsea.
“The Euro is an important challenge for me – Conte told BBC – we know that this tournament is very important for the fans, we want to make them happy. In Italy, it’s not a good period for football, we’re missing talent. It’s very difficult to find strong youngsters, for this reason we’ve worked hard to become a good team, with intensity and tactics. With these weapons we can be the dark horse of the Euro. It’s a shame that Verratti is out injured, he’s the best youngster for Italy and has accumulated a lot of experience with PSG. For us it’s a very big loss, but we have other great youngsters like Bernardeschi.”
In the second part of the interview, he answered tough questions on Pirlo, an Italy without the stars, his mentality and his English.
“There are other very strong players but with little international experience. Pirlo? He’s a great player, I’ve trained him and together we won a lot. At this time, however, I had to make better choices for Italy without following my heart. This is life, you have to go forward. My mentality? It’s a winning mentality. I like to use the term ‘win’ even if I know it’s very difficult to do so. You need sacrifices and a desire to work, this is the base I transmit to my players and to the staff. My players need to be honest with me, when I speak with them, I always use the truth. I like to look the men in the eyes. Ancelotti? A fantastic person, for me he’s like a brother. My English? I’m working on it, studying it, I’m getting better. For me it’s important to try to do this in interview in English, even just for the first few impressions. I want to get better, I’m a perfectionist and I want the best for myself and those who work with me. A word that I like in English? I love the verb ‘to fight’.”
“Is the Euro your most difficult challenge? It’s a nice challenge, I want to get past the group stage to make the Italians proud. Favorites? Germany and France, but also England. They have very talented players even if they are young. I like Roy Hodgson. Let’s not forget Portugal, another top team. “
“My message to the fans is, we know that we’re finding ourselves in a tough moment, but together we can get overcome the difficulty.”
Italy take on Finland today, then Belgium next Monday to kick off their Euro 2016 campaign.
The post Italy, Conte: “France and Germany are Favorites, but also England as well” appeared first on IFD.
from IFD http://ift.tt/28fMziF
via IFTTT berita selengkapnya Follow @jadwalliga
