Roberto Mancini has been around the block and he did his best yesterday to defuse the pressure building on his improving Italian side.
They may be setting unbeaten records, but Mancini used the preliminaries ahead of this evening’s Munich showdown with Belgium to declare the opposition as one of the two best teams in the world – the other was the French side sent packing earlier this week.
He also said that he hoped that Kevin De Bruyne and Eden Hazard overcame their injury difficulties.
“It’s always nice for the fans to see all the best players on the pitch, that’s what makes football special,” the coach said.
“We face the best team in Europe along with France, maybe the best in the world. They are on top of the ranking, but we’ll try to win.”
Some of the local commentary in Italy has actually honed in on Romelu Lukaku, given his outstanding performances for Inter Milan in the season just gone.
“All season we witnessed what a match winner and important player he has become,” said Giorgio Chiellini, who is battling to be fit. “I think it would be a disservice to say Belgium are all about Romelu Lukaku though.”
That may be the case if De Bruyne and Hazard miss out, though.
Seamus Coleman admitted yesterday that he has been picking and choosing his Euros matches, preferring to spend time with his family back home in Killybegs.
And he isn’t paying too much attention to the significance of Portugal’s relatively early exit with September’s World Cup qualifier in mind.
“Portugal have got top players so it’s going to be tough regardless,” said Coleman, who refused to get drawn into discussions about whether he wanted England to lift the trophy.
His mates James McClean and David Meyler did post pictures of themselves wearing Germany jerseys earlier this year but there was no danger of Coleman ever going down that (harmless) route.
Number of the day: 24
International goals in 78 appearances registered by Swiss striker Haris Sefereovic. The Benfica forward isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but that’s a pretty impressive strike rate and he will be a threat on crosses. He was previously a target for Swiss boo boys but his heroics against France will secure his legacy.
ON TV
Switzerland v Spain 5.0 (RTÉ/ITV), Belgium v Italy 8.0 (RTÉ/BBC)