El Shaarawy: Italy can go far in Germany

Italy winger Stephan El Shaarawy believes the defending has the qualities to go far in the ongoing European Championship in Germany. 

The AS Roma forward, at a press conference ahead of the last 16 meeting with Switzerland underlined how Italy’s ‘never die’ attitude shows that they are a strong side. 

Italy made it to the next round after their late goal against Croatia in their last group match through Mattia Zaccagni’s goal in the 98th minute on Monday. 

Luciano Spalletti’s side, who have not been impressive in the tournament, will have to defeat a Switzerland side that has impressed in their group campaign at the European Championship. The Swiss cruised past Hungary before being held to tight draws against Scotland and Germany. They’ll be heading into this tie with a high level of confidence. 

The forward said qualifying for the knockout stage is a great feeling and joy that made many know they have a great attitude. 

“Scoring in the second half isn’t luck, but it’s a quality of a team that believes until the end.

“Monday’s match wasn’t an exceptional match from a quality point of view, unlike the one against Albania, but there was a great commitment, and the qualification, in my opinion, is deserved,” he added. 

El Shaarawy also believed there was great expectation and pressure because they were a strong team that could go all the way. 

“Italy is the defending champions, and there are great expectations and pressure.”

“This team is made up of great players who know how to team up, suffer, and celebrate together. We’re a team of great quality that can do well.” 

Speaking on Italy’s struggles against Spain and Croatia, El Shaarawy opined that Italy had little ambition to play in some circumstances but had great quality. 

“We lacked the courage and ambition to go and hurt the opponents. Spalletti asks us to play offensive, proactive football, we.lWeklackse aspects, and we have to improve a bit on this.”