Di Natale: “Spain was invincible, now it's Italy's turn”

Antonio Di Natale is a legend of Calcio. After 209 goals in 445 games, he is the sixth scorer in Serie A history (surpassed only by Altafini, Meazza, Nordahl, Totti and Piola: next to nothing) and is now aiming for a great coaching career. With AS he analyzes his moment and that of Azzurra, which he sees as a favorite in the Euro.

Antonio, how is he?

Well. Last year I trained for the last three games of the season at Carrarese, in Serie C and I stay here, it is an important project.

Which coaches are your references?

The ones I had during my career. Silvio Baldini, Luciano Spalletti, Francesco Guidolin… They all left me something. At the international level, Guardiola is the one who has something more.

He begins this journey after being the sixth scorer in the history of Calcio.

To have been a capocannoniere and to be in this classification is a huge pride.

At Udinese he shone for 12 years. Was there never a club capable of getting you out of there?

They looked for me, but I was happy at Udinese and my family was delighted. I had no doubts.

With the Nazionale he lived 42 games, signing 11 goals. The most beautiful memory?

The first day, when Trapattoni summoned me. Dressing the Azzurra is a dream.

In 2008, his missed penalty paved the way for the best streak in the history of the Spanish team …

Yes, but that Spain was invincible. In 2012, I think that with another team in the final we would have won the Eurocup. La Roja could only be admired.

In the group stage of 2012 the match was very close. And besides, you scored a goal.

It was a small rematch after the 2008 penalty. We did not imagine going that far in that European Championship, there we understood that we could do something great. A shame the final, but I repeat: Spain was better.

And what do you think of today's Italy, which has already reached the quarterfinals?

I always saw her as the favorite to succeed in this competition. Mancini's work is great, he bet heavily on young people with a clear identity. He was convinced that he could win the Euro already before the pandemic. There are many great teams, but none with their perseverance.

What do you like most about the Nazionale?

Besides the game, the group that Roberto has built. I love that everyone arrives with a team spirit, without personalities.

Which azzurro do you consider to be the most decisive?

Insigne and Verratti are the ones who have been at an enormous level for years, but I reiterate that, for me, the strength is in the collective.

Lorenzo has characteristics similar to his.

Yes, he is a winger and I started like that too, then luckily they put me as a center forward and I had a great time.

You started scoring a lot of goals after 30, Insigne could follow suit.

Sure. Gattuso got him closer to the goal and this year he scored 19 goals. Hopefully many more will also arrive with Italy.