MILAN: Jorginho said Tuesday that the difficult work for Italy begins now as the Azzurri prepare to take to the field at home for the first time since their triumph at Euro 2020.
Roberto Mancini’s side face Bulgaria at the Stadio Artemio Franchi on Thursday in the first of three 2022 World Cup qualifiers, with fans in Florence set to welcome their summer heroes back to action.
Italy top Group C with a perfect nine points after their first three matches, but with only one guaranteed World Cup spot per group and a trip to Switzerland — who dumped France out of the Euro — coming up on Sunday Chelsea midfielder Jorginho says they need to keep on their toes.
“Now it gets difficult, as Italy are no longer a surprise team,” he told reporters.
“We’ve returned to where we belong, and everyone who comes to play against us will come with a different attitude, so we’re happy with what we’ve achieved but we need to stay humble because the moment you let your guard down bad things start to happen.”
Italy won the Euro playing an expansive style of football which combined with the more traditional dogged, resolute characteristics of the national team guided them to glory by beating some of the tournament’s toughest opposition.
Mancini has managed to combine a pool of talented midfielders, including Jorginho, to dazzling effect, with his team now 34 games unbeaten heading into the Bulgaria match.
“The manager has changed the way that national team plays, I don’t think the message has just been sent to other countries but also to the Italian people, who I think enjoyed themselves watching us,” said Jorginho.
“There are lots of team with extremely good players, but the difference with us is the unity, the group we have is what made the difference and will continue to do so.”
Winning the Euro final against England, at Wembley no less, also gave Jorginho bragging rights on his return to the Chelsea training ground, where he met up with midfield partner Mason Mount and Three Lions full-backs Ben Chilwell and Reece James.
“I’ve enjoyed it loads, they didn’t enjoy it much! I have to say they welcomed me back, but thank goodness we won... I enjoyed that little period,” he said.
Jorginho was left “a bit open-mouthed” by Pele saying he was a fan of the 29-year-old after he capped a memorable three months by being named UEFA men’s player of the year last week.
It was the latest high-point of a fertile period for Brazil-born Jorginho in which as well as winning the Euro with Italy he also starred as the Blues claimed the Champions League.
He beat Chelsea teammate N’Golo Kante and Kevin De Bruyne to the prize after helping his team see off the Belgian’s team Manchester City in the final in Porto before then helping Italy to Euro glory.
Asked by one reporter if he was thinking about winning the Ballon d’Or in December, Jorginho laughed.
“There’s a few months for that decision, “he said. “I’m trying to think about now... we’ll what happens later on.”
Difficult work begins for Jorginho as Euro kings Italy restart World Cup bid
https://arab.news/z337n
Difficult work begins for Jorginho as Euro kings Italy restart World Cup bid
- Chelsea midfielder Jorginho says they need to keep on their toes
- "Now it gets difficult, as Italy are no longer a surprise team," he told reporters
Dembélé stars as PSG crushes bitter rival Marseille 5-0 to regain top spot in Ligue 1
- The win restored defending champion PSG’s two-point lead over Lens after 21 rounds, with Marseille in fourth place behind Lyon after the humiliating defeat
PARIS: Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé starred with two goals and an assist as Paris Saint-Germain crushed bitter rival Marseille 5-0 to reclaim top spot in Ligue 1 on Sunday.
The win restored defending champion PSG’s two-point lead over Lens after 21 rounds, with Marseille in fourth place behind Lyon after the humiliating defeat.
“We wanted to send a message that we’re back,” Dembélé said after PSG’s biggest winning margin against Marseille.
“It was almost perfect,” PSG coach Luis Enrique said. “It’s an important day for our fans because we made history, 5-0 never happened before.”
Despite PSG’s attacking flair, Marseille coach Roberto De Zerbi’s choices will be scrutinized following a truly dismal performance from his side lacking composure and fight. Marseille was eliminated from the Champions League following a 3-0 defeat against Club Brugge less than two weeks ago.
“Once again, I say sorry to the fans,” De Zerbi said. “I’m not in the players’ heads. I thought we had prepared well for this game but clearly not. We need to understand why we played this way in Bruges and here.”
Top scorer Mason Greenwood, fellow forward Amine Gouiri and new signing Ethan Nwaneri were anonymous in attack, with veteran Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on the bench.
De Zerbi dropped goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli after a couple of poor performances and replaced him with Jeffrey de Lange, who was out of sorts, albeit not helped by his defense.
De Lange was easily beaten when Dembélé side-footed in a cross from left back Nuno Mendes in the 12th minute following a quick break launched by Désiré Doué.
However, PSG could have been down to 10 players before then. Midfielder Vitinha caught defender Leonardo Balerdi’s ankle with a late tackle but escaped with a yellow card.
Having denied Bradley Barcola with a fine low save, De Lange was beaten again in the 37th when Dembélé profited from a glaring error from Balerdi.
He let the ball through his legs on PSG’s right flank, allowing Dembélé to attack the penalty area, dribble past him and find the roof of the net.
“We can’t accept this, we don’t come here to play like this,” said Balerdi, who did not mention his own performance. “We were not good enough and you could see it. Against such a team you pay for it.”
Marseille’s weak defense cracked in 10 second-half minutes, with Facundo Medina scoring an own-goal over the head of De Lange, and Dembélé setting up Khvicha Kvaratskhelia for a clinical volley before Lee Kang-in slotted home the fifth.
Marseille’s 1-0 win over PSG in September will seem like a distant memory.
Fans closely watched
PSG fans were in the spotlight after last season’s match at Parc des Princes was marred by homophobic and racist chanting, with a warning to “stop discriminatory chants” posted on the giant screen.
There were brief discriminatory chants about Marseille at the start of the game and referee Willy Delajod stopped play for about one minute around the 70th, at which point a message was posted on the big screen.
Köhn gets away with blunder
Monaco goalkeeper Philipp Köhn got away with a blunder in a 0-0 draw at Nice in the French Riviera derby.
Köhn stopped the ball going out for a corner but slid and mis-kicked it to attacking midfielder Sofiane Diop on the edge of the penalty area in the 72nd minute. Diop’s curling shot was going in until defender Thilo Kehrer acrobatically heeled the ball away.
Folarin Balogun hit the crossbar for Monaco in the third minute.
Other matches
Veteran striker Ciro Immobile drew a blank on his league debut for Paris FC in a 0-0 draw at Auxerre.
During the 2019-20 season he finished as the “Capocannoniere” (top scorer) in the Italian league with 36 goals for Lazio and has scored 304 goals overall at club level.
Immobile played forward Jonathan Ikoné clean through during the second half, but Ikoné’s shot was saved.
Angers moved up to ninth after beating Toulouse 1-0 thanks to a brilliant lob from defender Lilian Raolisoa from nearly 40 meters out in the 89th.
Le Havre moved up to 13th after winning 2-1 at home to Strasbourg.
Lens beat Rennes 3-1 on Saturday.
