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Roberto Mancini's Italy are carrying forward their momentum even further after becoming the champions of Europe at Euro 2020 this year. The achievement is becoming unreal day by day, especially when you remember that the nation failed to qualify for the last World Cup.
The Azzurri wrote their names in the history books on Sunday after a goalless draw against Switzerland. The stalemate result was for the World Cup qualifiers that marked Italy's record-breaking unbeaten run of 36 matches.
The Italians tasted their last defeat back in September 2018. That match was in the group stages of the UEFA Nations League against Portugal.
It is an unreal record considering that Italy broke the joint record of Brazil (1993-1996) and Spain (2007-2009), who remained unbeaten for a record 35 games respectively. But the fanatics of Italian football would disagree on how unreal the record is, as the Azzurri have already proven their superiority by winning the European title - to which the odds were not in their favor.
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Mancini has revolutionized the Italian national team to reinvent their staple style of defensive football. The revitalization has worked wonders for Italy. Going into the World Cup as champions of Europe, they would have a target on their back from other aspirants.
Mancini not too happy with Italy's last result
Italy felt that lady luck was not on their side when they were on the cusp of the record-breaking feat. Ideally, a goalless draw is not something to be celebrated much, considering Italy's plentiful chances of scoring in the game.
The most promising opportunity to score was presented to the Azzurri when Jorginho stepped up for a penalty.
Yann Sommer thwarted Jorginho's trickery and Italy missed out on a glorious chance to celebrate. Mancini later spoke about his disappointments of the night and promised to tinker with his squad as a goalless draw was an unacceptable outcome.
"We have had too many chances not to win this match, we have to be more ruthless and precise in front of goal. A match like this should have been a win 3-0. For sure there will be some changes in the next match."
Contrasting to this, Giorgio Chiellini had a positive outlook towards the game. Italy remain on top of Group C, having secured 11 points from five games with four points differentiating them from the second-placed Swiss. The Italian captain spoke to Rai Sport about his feelings after the match.
"Today we played a great match, better even than the 3-0 win against Switzerland in June [in Euro 2020 group stage], but we just could not score, I liked our play a lot today. There were many positives."
