On one hand, there's the joy of winning our opener at EURO 2024 against Albania. On the other, the focus and attention have already turned to the second Group B match scheduled for Thursday 20 June at 21:00 CEST in Gelsenkirchen against Spain. Italy, having returned to Iserlohn in the evening after the match against the Albanians (Dortmund is about 40 km away), took to the field in the morning at Hemberg Stadion for a training session under the watchful eyes of young students awarded at Casa Azzurri as part of the contest "Il migliore gol delle nostre nazionali: fai gol anche tu!" (The best goal of our national teams: you can score too!) The head coach gifted them the opportunity to watch the entire session.

"We did well, showing that we are a balanced team with self-awareness," said the head of the delegation Gianluigi Buffon. "Despite a shocking start that could have destabilised us, we continued to grind out our game. As the coach said, our strength lies in our commitment to our style of play, and we thoroughly deserved the victory. Spalletti always tries to get the most out of what he has at his disposal; sometimes he uses the stick, and other times the carrot. I think these are inevitable tools when you need to get the best out of the players".

Buffon focused his attention on a particular aspect: "The calmness with which we managed to recover from going behind was the strongest signal to take away. Then there's something to perfect. With a bit more ruthlessness and aggression, we probably wouldn't have risked seeing a crucial victory slip away in the final minutes." Buffon also drew a comparison between this national team and the one from 2006: "There are many similarities, especially in the management of the group. Emotions about returning to Dortmund? Especially seeing Alex Del Piero on the sidelines. I tend to forget the past, but I did take a little trip down memory lane to 2006." Spain also evokes a good memory, that of the round of 16 at EURO 2016. "It was a Spain perhaps at the end of a cycle, due to age reasons. Our team, on the other hand, is at the beginning of a cycle. I like to think that in two years we'll be at the top, but even today we can achieve high levels of performance".