Having landed in Romania yesterday after a two-week training camp at the CPO in Tirrenia, the National Under 21s will return to training this afternoon, two days before their opener against France in the European Championships (Thursday, 20:45 CEST - live on Rai 1, referee: Dutchman Lindhout). In the meantime, this morning, at the Academic College of the Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, a seminar was held dedicated to the relationship between sport and nutrition, organised by the Italian Embassy in Bucharest in collaboration with the FIGC, Confindustria Romania and the Babes-Bolyai University.

Before the event, the team and the entire staff met the Italian ambassador in Romania Alfredo Durante Mangoni and the pro-rector of the University of Babes-Bolyai Corin Braga, who received the personalised national team shirt as a gift from the head of delegation Mauro Balata. Bringing the greetings of the federal president Gabriele Gravina, Balata underlined the splendid welcome received, a thanks that was then backed up by coach Paolo Nicolato and captain Sandro Tonali.

The Azzurrini then visited the photo exhibition on the history of the national team, created with about one hundred photos made available by the FIGC and the Coverciano Football Museum Foundation. The photos also included some unforgettable wins from the Under 21s, including the last triumph at the 2004 European Championship under the guidance of Claudio Gentile. Space was then given to the seminar, which saw speeches by, among others, the territorial delegate of Confindustria Romania Gianluca Zanellato and the nutritionist of the National Under 21s, Maria Luisa Cravana.

ESPOSITO FOCUSES ON THE GROUP. The player in the first press conference in the hotel hosting the Azzurrini was Salvatore Esposito, the eldest of the three Esposito brothers who is now a veteran of the Under 21s, with whom he made his debut under Nicolato in November 2019. A year ago he also experienced the joy of his debut with the senior national team, while last season ended with a bitter taste in his mouth, as his Spezia side were defeated by Verona in the play-off to avoid relegation to Serie B. A day, that of 11 June, to forget for the Esposito family, with the three brothers defeated in the space of 24 hours in the relegation play-off with Spezia (Salvatore), in the Serie B play-off (Sebastiano) and in the final of the Under 20s World Cup (Francesco Pio): "Even days like that make you grow," he said, "especially when you are young. It was a June 11 to forget, but the fact that three brothers were involved in something so important was a source of pride for our family."

A midfielder with the ability to break the lines and build play, a specialist in set pieces (he scored his first Serie A goal against AC Milan with a fantastic strike), Esposito has attracted the attention of several clubs, but at the moment his only focus is on the European Championship: "The experience in Serie A has given me a lot, I have realised the dream I had as a child, even if it didn't turn out as I wanted and as we deserved. A lot changes between Serie B and Serie A: the pace of the game is different, the plays are different, as are the players. I have got more in the locker now, also because if you want to stay at that level you necessarily have to improve."

Like his teammates, Esposito is aware that this national team has all the ability in order to go all the way in this European Championship: "We are Italy, we are one of the strongest teams and we must aspire to the maximum goal, we are all set to have a great tournament. We must not hide, it is right to have high expectations while keeping our feet firmly on the ground since we have a difficult group stage ahead of us." Starting with the opening match: "We should not fear anyone, but we have the utmost respect for France, who is a great national team. We will have to look more at ourselves, play our game and try to dominate the game because we have the players to do so." The optimism does not come so much from the quality of the squad, but from the commitment that the team is putting into every training session and from the cohesion of the group: "If we stop to read the names of this team, it is obvious the great technical value, but I have confidence in the group, because there are guys who are will give everything for this shirt, which for a player must always be the most important. I never stop to see how good my team-mate is, but how much he cares and how much he wants to sacrifice. And on this I am really calm." An important concept, which is worth reiterating: "It is true that there are 20 out of 23 guys here who have played in the Serie A and it is also true that many youngsters have played consistently, but what counts most are the human values of this group, values that have grown."

Putting aside the usual superstition ("I had made a "fioretto" (a sacrifice, eg. at lent) ahead of the relegation playoff, seeing that it didn't go well I decided not to make one for the European Championship'), it is fair to point out the willingness of those boys who have chosen to join this adventure despite being in the senior national team: 'Tonali, Scalvini and Gnonto are three boys I know very well. With Sandro we grew up together in the youth team of Brescia, with Giorgio and Wilfried I have shared some beautiful moments, with the national team. As well as being three great players they are three wonderful people, they had a great desire to come here and this is not to be taken for granted. We are proud and happy to have them with us, I am sure they will give us a great hand."

The Azzurini's shirt numbers for the U21 Euros

Goalkeepers: 19 Elia Caprile (Bari), 1 Marco Carnesecchi (Cremonese), 22 Stefano Turati (Frosinone)
Defenders: 12 Raoul Bellanova (Inter), 20 Andrea Cambiaso (Bologna), 14 Giorgio Cittadini (Modena), 6 Matteo Lovato (Salernitana), 15 Caleb Okoli (Atalanta), 3 Fabiano Parisi (Empoli), 5 Lorenzo Pirola (Salernitana), 2 Giorgio Scalvini (Atalanta), 13 Destiny Iyenoma Udogie (Udinese);
Midfielders: 16 Edoardo Bove (Roma), 7 Salvatore Esposito (Spezia), 21 Fabio Miretti (Juventus), 4 Samuele Ricci (Torino), 10 Nicolò Rovella (Monza), 8 Sandro Tonali (AC Milan);
Attackers: 23 Nicolò Cambiaghi (Empoli), 18 Matteo Cancellieri (Lazio), 9 Lorenzo Colombo (Lecce), 17 Wilfried Gnonto (Leeds), 11 Pietro Pellegri (Torino).