Here we go, the wait is over. The European Football Championships begin today with the hosts Germany facing Scotland and tomorrow the Azzurri will make their debut, defending the title they won three years ago. Italy will face Albania in Dortmund at 9pm.

«The emotion is great, as the hours pass it becomes a fantastic tension, which brings happiness and is not toxic», Luciano Spalletti, who warns his boys, declared to Sky Sport. »We play with players who have great quality and know our football well, it will be a tough match».

The coach charges his boys: «They must know that at this moment we are giants, heroes. We have little time available to train the national team, but with a group with this availability and awareness everything becomes easier and what is done in one training session is like ten times in a club."

Again: «Sometimes there are different results compared to what you bring home, then there are trajectories of the balls that are different from what you expect. I am convinced that Italy will make people understand the football they want to play, then it is not necessarily true that you get a result but you have the feeling that you are part of a whole and you know that we have 60 million Italians alongside us who we do not ask to support but we know that they are at our side. We are protagonists of the Italian dream, for our compatriots we are heroes."

On the individuals, starting with Barella, whose presence Spalletti does not dispel the doubt: «We are counting on him, he is the one who knows how to do the most things, he has free and clean football, but he still has to develop today's training done well and tomorrow's, then we'll decide." And he specifies: «His feelings are listened to, because he has already had a problem like this, but what the doctors say counts, because the players always want to play». However, there is optimism: "Everything suggests that it will be available."

Attack chapter, the presence of Scamacca is certain: «He has grown a lot, he is complete and has everything, but you can also play with two strikers who are very strong, Scamacca and Retegui».