Hardly anyone would have been courageous enough to put money on Italy for them to reach Euro Round of 8 and that too by surpassing Spain.

In fact in the views of the pundits, Italy never had been to a big competition with such an average squad.

You probably could not totally disagree to it even as an Italy supporter to be honest because of the lack of the impact players that the squad actually had.

There was no extraordinary potential in the offensive line or at the centre of the pitch (barring Daniele De Rossi who is in his thirties).

Eder, maybe a few would argue, is not a bad player, but, is he breath-taking or even the other two or three strikers? No.

With enormous experience lying in the defence and the goal, those two departments were in safe hands yes, but, the games are not won solely with the backline solidity, are they?
However, what Italy had got to make up for all the lacking was the calmness of the players, and the shrewdness of the head coach.

Generally, teams play to their strengths, but, Italy played to its weakness if you can say so.
In spite of not being powerful enough attackingly, they still chose to invade the opponents rather than just be in their own half making the clearances and hoping to be lucky.

Spain would not have foreseen such approach from Italy at all. It was all attacking play from the Blues catching the opposition unprepared for that.

You can’t help imagining what this Italian team could have done with a highly skilled striker upfront and that’s something the new management can look at. Maybe having Balotelli back is the solution. One last chance, who knows?