Italy respond to Gentile touch

Staying at the top might be tougher than getting there, but Claudio Gentile's Italy will take up the gauntlet when they defend their UEFA European Under-21 Championship title this summer.

Continental kings
The Azzurrini were crowned continental kings two years ago in Germany, and subsequently took bronze at the Athens Olympics, yet Gentile is aware of the quality of opposition facing Italy in Portugal. Foremost among the Italians' rivals, said the 52-year-old coach, are "teams with a good tradition at U21 level, or who have already won in the past, like Portugal, France, Serbia and Montenegro", while the hosts, in particular, "have a side capable of going a long way in the competition". Significantly, Italy, seeded as holders, have avoided all the aforementioned, being drawn in Group B alongside Denmark, Ukraine and the Netherlands.

Pazzini winner
"We can say the other group is more difficult, but I don't think we have qualification in our pockets. It will be very difficult because we will face emerging nations who are all eager to do themselves justice in the tournament." For all the generosity of that appraisal, Italy will be expected to continue the progress that swept them through qualifying Group 5 with an emphatic eight victories and one draw from ten outings. "We won our group losing only one game," Gentile observed. "In the play-offs we faced Hungary and played two good matches, drawing away and winning at home." ACF Fiorentina's Giampaolo Pazzini was the match-winner in November's play-off second leg following a 1-1 draw in Hungary.

'Strong teams'
The coach, who has been in charge since 2000, insisted that "repeating a success is never easy", adding: "I will be extremely happy if we can reach the final, especially because it will be a very difficult tournament with very strong teams and great players." However, Gentile, whose no-nonsense style as a defender with Juventus and Italy struck fear into opponents, may have done likewise to his country's U21 rivals with the following assertion: "I think we are growing as a team and we can do well at the European Championship. We are a good group in every department - we are complete in defence, midfield and attack. If we approach the tournament with the right mentality, we can do as well as we did in the last edition."

'Leaders'
Key to their challenge could be AS Roma defender Cesare Bovo and midfielder Marco Donadel from Fiorentina - "it's never good to single out individuals but we have two players who won the last edition. They are the most experienced players in the squad and the two leaders of the team. Then we have several interesting young players like Giampaolo Pazzini and Raffaele Palladino."

Nurturing
If Italy do retain their championship, the secret to their success will be twofold, according to Gentile. "Nurturing young talent, like other teams such as France and Spain who have also achieved good results at youth level, but we have won more than them because we always give our best in big competitions." A FIFA World Cup winner in 1982, the coach should know what he is talking about. "A bit like we did at senior level in 1982, when nobody considered us potential winners and we went all the way, we can become a very united group in this kind of tournament." The rest have been warned.