Seeing the smiles of 700 students aged ten to 18 at the Realschule am Hemberg is the best way to move on from a bitter evening in Gelsenkirchen. The National Team Delegation Head, Gianluigi Buffon, was the guest speaker at the awards ceremony of a school tournament. He was joined by Iserlohn's sports councillor, Christian Kißmer, and the school’s headmaster, Jens Schwegmann, on a morning where, in the company of National Team mascots Azzurra and Oscar, a football-tennis match took place between students and representatives of Casa Azzurri, the area dedicated to fans and FIGC partners and located just metres away from the school.

Buffon was, of course, enthusiastically welcomed, and, after having his photo taken with many of the students present and signing autographs, he took the microphone and sent out a message to the youngsters who filled the stands of the school’s sports field. “I’m happy to be here and proud of you,” said the Delegation Head. “Keep playing sports because they teach you to live by the rules and promote inclusion. I would like to thank you and Iserlohn for the wonderful welcome we’ve received. I hope to see a European Championship final between Italy and Germany.”

For there to be a chance of that happening, Italy need at least a point against Croatia in Leipzig on Monday. “There must be no fear but rather the right pre-match tension,” continued Buffon. “We need to think that when we take to the pitch and start warming up, there’s the opportunity to showcase our talent. We do some wonderful work and everyone would like to be in our place, even when we have such a delicate match coming up. Our first thought will be to regain our confidence after yesterday’s setback, but I’m convinced that we’ll produce a different kind of performance against Croatia and be talking about something else after the game. Sometimes, you handle a defeat better than a win. We still got some answers, beyond the fact that they may have been negative. If you thought you were on top form against Albania, you shouldn’t now consider yourself at rock bottom; the truth perhaps lies in the middle. We need to find our level to be able to compete, starting on Monday.”

Italy returned to the training pitch in Iserlohn late in the morning after the loss to Spain: “We regret the fact that we thought we’d reached a certain level,” explained Buffon. “However, we saw something that we weren’t expecting yesterday. Spalletti gave truthful explanations: the physical side of things, an aspect he focused on, was something that immediately struck us. Credit should go to Spain, who impressed me with their way of playing and individual quality. They constantly managed to create numerical superiority and never let us breathe. We struggled from the first minute, but the good thing is we only lost 1-0.”

Gigio Donnarumma was certainly a very busy man last night: “If he hadn’t conceded, it would have been a 10/10 performance from him. He saved everything and was a real bulwark.”