It was meant to take place in a couple of months, but now a longer wait is in store. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the European Championship has been postponed for a year, meaning Italy’s dream of winning the tournament, for which they qualified with a perfect record, has temporarily been put on hold. But for Roberto Mancini, the objective remains the same: to try to go all the way, safe in the knowledge that there are solid foundations to build from when the time comes to take to the pitch again. However, the Head Coach's current thoughts are with those who have sadly died from the coronavirus and their loved ones: “It’s a deeply upsetting situation,” he said in his interview on Sky Sport 24. “Unfortunately, we have lost many people, and this is the most difficult thing to accept. As regards the European Championship, it was looking promising for us, even if we probably would have encountered sides at a more advanced stage than us due to the fact that they started the rejuvenation process before we did. And then there would have been fully established teams like France. With an extra year to prepare, the lads will be able to improve in all aspects and our youngsters will be able to gain experience. Our National Team can compete with the very best, I hope to be the Head Coach that leads Italy to the European Championship again after our last success in 1968.”

With the Azzurri’s friendly matches against England and Germany having been postponed in March, Mancini last saw his players in November, when Italy finished their qualifying campaign with two victories over Bosnia and Herzegovina and Armenia: “We haven’t met up in months. We’ll see each other in September, by which time almost a year will have passed. It’ll be difficult. When we return to action, there will be Nations League, European Championship and World Cup qualifying matches to play. We’ll try to do well in all three competitions. We’ll be playing a lot more games compared to the past and won’t have a lot of opportunities to train.”

Mancini also looked back, remembering when the National Team really started to blossom earlier on in his tenure: “In the Nations League, we produced three good performances but didn’t play as well in Portugal, when we changed the whole team to try out a few things. One of our best displays was against Portugal in Milan, we played really well despite not coming away with a victory. From that moment on, we’ve continued to grow. I expect the lads to develop further because they have exceptional technical quality, and this is the most important thing in football.”

The Head Coach highlighted the abundance of quality goalkeepers at his disposal, dismissed the notion that Italy are lacking in full-backs (“We have excellent full-backs, they just need to play more”), praised his midfield options (“They’re all versatile lads, we have many options and all of them are strong players”) and expressed hope in being able to add to the attacking department: “Another attacker who possesses different qualities would be useful to back up Immobile and Belotti. Given his age, we’re hoping that Kean will get more games under his belt and improve. Esposito? I like the look of him, he’s already played in the Champions League and needs to gain experience, he’s only 17 years old. There are also other interesting prospects: the more we have, the better it is.” Mancini doesn’t see Zaniolo as a striker: “He can play in many different positions, but I don’t believe that he’s suitable for the number 9 role. We hope that he recovers well from his injury, he has plenty of time ahead of him and can improve both technically and tactically.”

With the European Championship now over a year away, there’s another game that Mancini would like to see played: “I’ve already said that I’d like there to be a friendly between a mixed male and female National Team and a team made up of doctors and nurses. It’d be a great opportunity to thank them for what they’re doing.”