One European Championship, two Scudetti, two Coppe Italia and two Supercoppe Italiane. And not forgetting, wearing the Inter shirt, a Europa League final and a Champions League final. It sounds like the honours board of a footballer at the end of his career, but instead, Alessandro Bastoni is 25 years old and has a future yet to be written. He himself, in an interview with Vivo Azzurro TV during the last Italy team meeting, explains the exponential growth that, from a young promise, has led him to be unanimously considered one of the strongest defenders in the world: ‘You become Alessandro Bastoni by learning a lot from experiences such as the European Championship in 2021, where I worked my way up from the ranks behind real icons in my role. Winning the European Championship was the crowning achievement of many sacrifices made as a child. I had the chance to experience it, although not personally because I had two totems like Chiellini and Bonucci in front of me, who taught me so much.'

IN DAD'S FOOTSTEPS. Alessandro's journey started in Casalmaggiore, a small town of 15,000 inhabitants in the province of Cremona. He took his first kicks in the oratory field, dreaming of following the footsteps of his father Nicola, a former Cremonese full-back: ‘I was a very shy and reserved child. I was lucky that the father of one of my classmates was a scout for Atalanta: he took me for a tryout and it went well. My father has always had great footballing qualities, but perhaps he lacked the head. That's why he didn't want me to make the same mistake as him, even if he joked that on a quality level he was stronger than me. After my debut in Serie A, I told him that he could no longer tell me that.' A father who was a footballer, but also a driver: ‘He was fundamental in my journey. Playing at Atalanta I had to travel 130 kilometres outwards and another 130 coming back, and he always acted as my taxi driver. Without him, even on a practical level, I wouldn't have been able to do what I'm doing.'

A great basketball fan (‘I like the spirit and the way they know how to live even in defeat’), he already showed that he had the physique of a defender and the game vision of a playmaker in Atalanta's youth academy: ‘The modern defender must never lack the courage and initiative to do something that can change the game. It's a difficult role - you can do well for 89 minutes and in the 90th minute make a mistake and it looks like you had a disastrous game. The Ballon d'Or? It has never been an ambition, and realistically it is difficult for a defender to win it. My satisfaction is to assist in the attack without forgetting the defensive tasks.’

After working his way through the youth ranks, he received his first call-up to the senior national team in August 2020. His debut came three months later in Florence, at the age of 21, in the wide success (4-0) in the friendly against Estonia. The following summer, former coach Roberto Mancini decided to take him to the European Championships, where he played in the third match of the round against Wales, contributing to the Azzurri's second continental title: ‘Starting with the Under-15s and getting here,’ he told the FIGC's OTT platform, ‘has been a long and tortuous journey. A lot has happened in between. To a kid who is starting now, I would say not to give up, because I too had difficulties: with the U16s and U17s, there were times when I did not play.'

A serious bereavement struck him when his career had yet to blossom, causing him to reconsider his list of priorities: ‘My best friend passed away after an accident when I was with the Under-15 national team and it was the first big blow of my life. It made me realise how football always remains a game. I always think that you have to look to the positive side of experiences, even when the positive side is not there.'

AN AZURRA FAIRYTALE. From Azzurri to Azzurra, the step is easy. In January 2022, this was the name that he and his partner, Camilla, decided to give their first-born: ‘Becoming a father was another big event in my life, and it reshaped what the priorities are. You realise how a defeat or a bad day can go by the wayside when you come home and see your daughter and your wife.' Bad days like the one experienced last 29 June at the Olympiastadion in Berlin, where Switzerland stopped Italy's journey in EURO 2024: ‘At the European Championship, we had a difficult interlude, and I take responsibility for the group. Perhaps we also struggled to understand each other. However, there was great maturity in the restart of the Nations League and now we are doing great things. Spalletti has a very transparent relationship with everyone, he says the things he thinks to our faces. This is a great quality of his. In March, Italy will be back on the pitch to face Germany in the quarter-finals of the Nations League, a match that will also determine which group the Azzurri will play in next year's World Cup qualifiers: ‘The mandatory objective is to take part in the World Cup, because we haven't managed to qualify for two editions.'