Julien Laurens
๐ค SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
Yeah, and I think it's probably logical in a way that Sandro Tonali, that is the key player today, he's probably been of those Italian starting XI, the best player this season with his club, at club level.
He's the one that was going to deliver it.
That finish is so perfect, isn't it?
And then he gives the assist to Moise Kane, who...
Could have scored maybe at least another one, maybe even two.
And I think this is the kind of momentum you could feel the tension at the start through the whole first half.
It was not easy despite a decent start.
And after that, it felt flat a little bit, probably because of that tension.
But once that first goal went in, then there was just no other outcome than Italy qualifying.
Really, they were far too good for, I thought, a very poor, albeit strong defensively, but a very poor Northern Ireland team with the ball anyway.
Yeah, I mean, personally, from a pure family point of view, I would have loved Wales to qualify and have this final in Cardiff against Italy.
It's probably trickier than Wales in a way, especially away from home.
You know the atmosphere is going to be hostile in a very different way than it would have been in Cardiff too.
A lot of those players know Serie A very well.
They know who they're playing against.
They know also the kind of psychological factor will be the same than it was in this Northern Ireland game.
You could expect Bosnia before the game in a pre-match press conference, for example, to say, well, the pressure is all on Italy, which is true.