Nicolò Barella was born in Cagliari on 7 February 1997. After coming through the Rossoblù’s youth ranks, he was part of Cagliari’s first team during the 2014/2015 season. His debut came on 15 January 2015 in a 2-1 defeat to Parma at the Tardini in the Coppa Italia. He then made his first Serie A appearance on 4 May that year against the same side in a 4-0 victory.

Following a loan spell at Como, he returned to newly promoted Cagliari in the summer of 2016 and went on to make 28 appearances during the 2016/17 campaign. On 17 September 2017, he scored his first goal in the Italian top flight – against SPAL – while he then became the youngest player in Cagliari’s history to wear the captain’s armband exactly three months later (Roma vs. Cagliari, 17 December 2017). During the summer of 2019, he joined Inter, who, at the time, were coached by former Azzurri boss Antonio Conte. So far, he’s won the Scudetto and Supercoppa Italiana with the Nerazzurri.

At international level, Barella was a European Championship runner-up with the Under-19 National Team in 2016 and was part of the Under-20 side who came third in the World Cup in 2017. He made his Under-21 debut on 1 September 2017 in a friendly against Spain. He earned his first call-up to the senior side in October 2017, when Ventura was at the helm, but didn’t win his first cap until Mancini had taken charge. This came on 10 October 2018 in Italy’s friendly against Ukraine in Genoa. He thus became the 800th player to wear the Italy shirt, and he has since gone on to score seven goals in 35 appearances for the National Team, with whom he won the European Championship in the summer of 2021.