Football career: From winning the championship to becoming a legend

After the interview, Lina accompanied Riccardo back to Italy to report to the national team as a full-time assistant, and successfully blocked the flight attendants who intended to do something bad to the handsome passenger in the first-class cabin.

Of course, with such a pleasing and sensible secretary assistant by his side, Ricardo had no time to flirt with other girls. Moreover, he broke his promise just after pointing at the lamp and swearing an oath, which seemed to be irresponsible to his cousin who was used to fulfill his oath.

Cousin: What does your oath have to do with me?

Eldest nephew Ricardo: It’s because of the oath I swore.

(￣□￣；)

Francis: …

@

On the afternoon of May 2008, 5, before the start of the warm-up match between Italy and Belgium, Ricardo finally completed his medical examination and officially reported to the Italian national team for the 30 European Cup.

In fact, the Italian national team has already started training at the Corviciano base in Florence on May 5th.

Moreover, starting from May 5, as the European Cup finals approached, the top 26 teams of the European Cup submitted their final 16-man team lists to UEFA one after another.

Among them, Spain was the first team to finalize the 23-man roster. The stubborn Aragones finally did not call up Raul and Bojan into the team. At the same time, because Albelda did not play many games in Valencia, he was also not selected for this year's Spanish national team.

However, Ricardo still has many old acquaintances, such as Sevilla's central defender captain Navarro and goalkeeper Palop, Barcelona's Puyol, Iniesta and Xavi, Liverpool's Torres, Arsenal's Fabregas and Reina, as well as Valencia's Albiol, Villa and David Silva.

The team is composed entirely of technically skilled players, which fully reflects the Spanish coach Aragones' ardent expectations for Spanish tactics.

Following Spain, the Russian national team coach Hiddink announced the 23-man squad for the European Cup. The list consists mainly of players who play in the Russian Premier League, such as CSKA Moscow's Akinfeev, Spartak Moscow's Pavlyuchenko and Zenit St. Petersburg's Arshavin...

After Ricardo reported to the national team, Italy, as the last national team to submit a 23-man roster, also completed its registration. Therefore, all 368 elite players of this European Cup have assembled and are ready to go. The 08 European Cup has officially entered the final sprint stage.

Italy's squad for the 08 European Championship is as follows:

There are three goalkeepers, namely No. 3 Buffon of Juventus, No. 1 Amelia of Livorno and No. 12 De Sanctis who joined Sevilla this season;

后卫线7人，分别来自7家俱乐部，分别是皇家马德里的5号卡纳瓦罗、国际米兰的23号马特拉齐、罗马的2号帕努奇、巴塞罗那的19号赞布罗塔、里昂的3号格罗索、巴勒莫的6号巴尔扎利与尤文图斯的4号基耶利尼；

The 9 midfielders are mainly concentrated in AC Milan and Roma, including AC Milan's No. 21 Pirlo, No. 13 Ambrosini and No. 8 Gattuso, Roma's No. 10 De Rossi, No. 22 Aquilani and No. 20 Perrotta, Juventus' No. 16 Camoranesi, and Sevilla's No. 15 Maresca;

锋线有5人，同样来自5家不同的俱乐部，分别是来自于拜仁慕尼黑的9号卢卡托尼、尤文图斯的7号德尔皮耶罗、乌迪内斯的11号迪纳塔莱、桑普多利亚的18号卡萨诺以及曼联的17号里卡多李奇。

Ricardo can finally team up with his old teammate Maresca again. The two were known as the Italian Gemini in Sevilla last season and had a tacit understanding of passing and cutting.

This season, also because of Ricardo's influence, Maresca's performance is much better than that of old Li Qi. He is one of the important hubs of Sevilla's offense and defense conversion, and has a near double-double performance of 9 goals and 11 assists. Therefore, he successfully squeezed out Montolivo, a direct partner of Ricardo's national youth team who was originally on the list, allowing the latter to prepare for the 08 Olympics with peace of mind.

However, when Ricardo saw that he was going to play with the famous problem boy Cassano, he felt a little headache. This guy is not just an ordinary middle school student...

After Italy's final 23-man squad was released, the media unanimously agreed that World Cup champion Italy would be one of the biggest favorites to win this European Cup.

Among them, a report titled "The Blue Giant Sets Sail, Aiming for the European Cup Crown" in the German magazine "Kicker" analyzed:

“Although it is undeniable that Lippi’s World Cup-winning team is two years older than two years ago, the addition of Ricardo Licci and Maresca is a perfect example of combining the old with the new.

有着经验丰富久经沙场的34岁老将卡纳瓦罗和马特拉齐，也有着正处于职业球员黄金年龄的名将31岁赞布罗塔、31岁卡卢托尼和31岁安布罗西尼，还有处在正当打之年的30岁布冯、30岁加图索，29岁皮尔洛和28岁马雷斯卡。

In addition, the 24-year-old De Rossi and the 22-year-old Ricardo Ricci will also inject extraordinary vitality into Italy's main lineup.

However, physical strength is still one of the important tests for Italy. After all, Italy's main lineup is basically the core players of their respective clubs. They have played more than 40 games in a season. There are also players like Li Qi who have played 52 official games in a season.

Moreover, the Italian team is a typical slow-warming team.

In the world championships, Italy has repeatedly stumbled in the group stage, but has gotten better and better in the knockout stages.

The Azzurri are particularly good at conserving their strength in the group stage and using their best resources where they are needed most.

虽然自从1996年欧洲杯小组赛第2场被捷克队2比1击败后，稳定性超强以及善于调整状态的意大利人已经在随后举行的3届世界杯和2届欧洲杯合计五届大赛上，90分钟内仅仅输给过克罗地亚一场。

But in this European Cup, Italy's luck in the draw is really bad. The Italians, who started directly in the group of death, may find it difficult to continue their previous wishes, because if they are not careful, they may be eliminated in the group stage.

In addition, if the Italians try their best in the group stage, whether they can persist to the end will be another test for Donadoni.

After all, according to the news released by the European Championship Organizing Committee, they have collected information on 16 players from 368 teams. The average age of the Italian team ranks first among the 16 teams, reaching 29.57 years old, which is about 0.2 years higher than the second-ranked Swedish team, and about 26.26 years higher than the youngest Russian team, whose average age is only 3 years old..."

Of course, Germany's Kicker would not be so kind as to just praise the Italian team and help them find problems. Before the European Cup started, the magazine did a series of columns to analyze the teams most likely to win the championship.

For example, "German Tanks Reloaded, Aiming for the European Cup Title" is an analysis of the German team.

"Although the group situation is very favorable, the main problem of the Germans is the poor form of key players, such as Super Saiyan Ballack and key striker Podolski who only scored five goals in a season."

There is also "The Gallic Rooster Rises Up and Looks at the European Cup Crown", which is about the French team.

“与意大利一样，法国阵中以老将主打、新星为辅。主力阵容中除了25岁的里贝里、27岁的马卢达、28岁的阿比达尔以及29岁的阿内尔卡，其余主力球员年龄皆达到了30岁以上。

Moreover, this European Championship is the first time in nearly 10 years that the French team has participated in an intercontinental competition without Zidane, the core player. Who will take over Zidane's mantle and carry the banner of French football? This is the most anticipated topic. "

……