Roberto Mancini: Italy manager shows who’s the boss in Euros win

England’s players have been writing their own narrative. Roberto Mancini did not read the script.

There are two sides to every story — and a nation so consumed by Gareth Southgate’s personal road to redemption missed the ultimate twist at these Euros.

We never saw Mancini coming, or a team with an overwhelming motivation to make these finals their own.

Italy were humiliated by their failure to qualify for the last World Cup. And while Southgate, complete with waistcoat and inflatable unicorns, led his men to the semi-finals in Russia, Italians were licking their wounds and plotting their renaissance.

The appointment of Mancini was absolutely key to that: a man whose belligerence causes fireworks but is also at the heart of a gilded career both on the pitch and the touchline.

He took charge of his country in 2018 and vowed to take them “back to the top of the world”. He is part way there after conquering Europe.

It represents a spectacular comeback for the Azzurri so soon after such a chastening low ebb.That they recovered on the night after going behind to Luke Shaw’s second-minute strike that took the roof off Wembley should come as no surprise, given the man at their helm.

Mancini was the mastermind of the single-most iconic moment of modern English football, yet has somehow been forgotten by the history books — and Premier League chairmen, it would seem.

“Agueroooooo!!!” anyone? Manchester City’s two-goal stoppage-time comeback to clinch the title in 2012 was orchestrated by Mancini — the man who, a year earlier, delivered the first trophy in what has been a decade of domestic dominance.

He was the man furiously stalking the touchline with expletive-laden rants as his side looked to have thrown their season away.

Yet it is Sergio Aguero, to the tune of a Martin Tyler soundtrack, who earned immortality; Mancini the ignominy of the sack just 12 months later.

Last night was the ultimate thumbing of the nose to a country that has never shown him the respect he deserves.

While Jose Mourinho, Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp are lionised in the annals of Premier League history, Mancini is merely a footnote; his achievements disregarded to the point where he has rarely been seriously connected with any major job on these shores since his unceremonious departure eight years ago.

A combustible nature that saw confrontations with those who worked over and under him at City, will be part of the reason for that, but such traits have rarely been enough to put off chairmen desperate for glory. It is also a quality right at the heart of Mancini’s remarkable career that has seen him win major trophies in every job he has had, including four league titles shared between Italy and England.

There is a stubbornness that runs through every sinew of the 56-year-old that refuses to be held down. Italy’s run to become European champions is punctuated by the settling of one score after another for Mancini.

Euro 2020 Final: Italy vs England

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The elimination of Belgium in the quarter-final saw him turn the table on Roberto Martinez, the architect of one of the great FA Cup Final giant-killings, when Wigan stunned Mancini’s City in 2013. That was his final game before being sacked by the club he had taken from “noisy neighbours” to champions of England.

Now, here he was condemning Belgium’s golden generation and Martinez to the role of one of the great underachievers; bottlers on the biggest stage.

Wembley had been the scene of Mancini’s final act in English football, but during the Euros he exorcised any remaining ghosts with wins against Austria, Spain and England.

And for his country, which had felt the catastrophic effects of Covid-19, here was something to aid the recovery.

While Mancini the person is a compelling story, Mancini the manager delivered this triumph.

He was the man who wrestled back control of a final that had threatened to be taken away from Italy in a whirlwind opening. He was the man throwing on solutions to Italy’s problems, while Southgate waited.

He is the man who has taken his country on a run of 34 games without defeat, creating a team that always seems to find a way. Italy now stand one win short of the all-time international record set by Brazil and Spain.

It was Italy who kicked off the finals in Rome with a statement of intent against Turkey. That 3-0 win suggested this was a new Italy, Mancini’s Italy. Both he and they were back.

Meanwhile, in England, we were writing our own story that was destined to be the sub-plot.

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