El Shaarawy: ‘No team is happy to play against Italy’ | OneFootball

Stephan El Shaarawy underlined how Italy ‘never die’ after their late goal against Croatia and underlined the team’s hunger ahead of their Euro 2024 Round of 16 tie with Switzerland.

Mattia Zaccagni found the back of the net in the 98th minute of the Azzurri’s final Group B match on Monday, securing a vital point that allowed Luciano Spalletti’s side to secure a second-place finish, putting them into the knockout stages against the Swiss.

Switzerland impressed in their group campaign at the European Championship, cruising past Hungary before being held to tight draws against Scotland and Germany. They’ll be feeling confident of their chances against Italy in the Round of 16.

El Shaarawy press conference

Speaking at a press conference via TMW, El Shaarawy first discussed the emotions after Italy’s late draw with Croatia.

“Definitely a great feeling, a goal in the 98th gives great joy. It gave us awareness of the fact that this team never dies, scoring in the second half isn’t luck, but it’s a quality of a team that believes until the end.

“Monday’s match wasn’t an exceptional match from a quality point of view, unlike the one against Albania, but there was great commitment and the qualification in my opinion is deserved.”

El Shaarawy was asked about the idea that this Italy side are underestimated.

“I believe there is great expectation and pressure because we’re a strong team that can go all the way, Italy are defending champions and there’s great expectation and pressure.

“This team is made up of great players and great men, who know how to team up, suffer and celebrate together. We’re a team of great quality that can do well.

“We showed it in the first game, in the other two we could’ve done better in terms of quality and courage, but this team can do well. We must have the ambition to have our say in this tournament.”

El Shaarawy commented on Italy’s struggles against Spain and Croatia.

“In my opinion we had little ambition to play in some circumstances. But this is a team of great quality, we lacked a bit of courage and ambition to go and hurt the opponents. Spalletti asks us to play offensive, proactive football, we lacked these aspects, and we have to improve a bit on this.”

El Shaarawy gave his thoughts on what kind of team this Italy side are.

“What the coach asks us to do is to look for a lot of dribbling, passing with the midfielders and then going to the wide areas.

“Against Croatia there was a bit of a lack of that and maybe with one less pass we could’ve looked for the wide spaces straight away. We try to do what he asks of us, at times it was lacking but that’s the idea.

“I’m always ready to do everything, the coach has tried me out wide on the left and on the right. I adapt to his needs but I know that even playing little, I can be decisive like what happened to Zaccagni. We have to be ready and with a clear conscience, I’m doing my best.”

El Shaarawy was asked about Luciano Spalletti’s suggestion that too much attachment to the team could cause mistakes.

“On the one hand it’s also positive, when a player wears this shirt, he wants to overdo it and do the best for this national team.

“Sometimes you fall into the heat of wanting to do too much and you are not very focused, on a qualitative level it’s not even easy, but from the point of view of commitment and availability there’s everything.

“Then it’s clear that we can improve, this is a team of serious players who are training hard.”

El Shaarawy was also posed the quote from Switzerland coach Murat Yakin who highlighted how his side aren’t worried about Italy.

“No team is happy to play against Italy, we have a great football history, and it’s never easy to play against us. We showed it also against Croatia, this is a team that doesn’t give up and tries to score goals.

“Even with Spain we tried to play openly, and they were better, but the ambition has to be that, we have the ability to do it. We will try to propose an offensive and proactive football also with Switzerland, we want to get to the end because winning is our goal.”

El Shaarawy spoke about playing with a three-man defence and if Spalletti seems tenser than usual.

“A three or a four changes little for me. Being born as a wide player, I’m better in the 4-3-3. More than the formation, we need to talk about how we approach the match, in my opinion we can improve a lot in duels, in one-on-one.

“I see Spalletti charged in the right way, demanding certainly because he demands, but positive in what is our path. He’s confident in what the team is and what we can give him.”

He commented on Daniele De Rossi’s new contract at Roma and if he expected to play a little more.

“I’m very happy with De Rossi’s renewal, we got on well with him straight away and as a coach he immediately showed himself to be very competent and capable. We’re living it well, we’re really a good group that has fun and knows how to stay together.

“These are choices that the coach makes, Mancini has been used to playing all the time with Roma, as have Bryan and Lorenzo, and everyone trains hard. The choices are the coach’s, we’re training hard waiting for the call. This is a very serious and professional group.”

El Shaarawy discussed his thoughts on Switzerland’s quality and approach.

“I expect a very high tempo, they showed that against Germany. They were very strong, they have good players and great quality.

“Then it’s the Round of 16, it’s always a tough match and attention to detail will be needed. In the videos we see that a lot of difference is made by the details, the climbing and the metres you do to recover the ball. We are ready for that.”

He looked ahead to the Azzurri’s side of the bracket.

“Yes interesting, but difficult. Even the lesser-appreciated teams have shown that they’re very organised, that they can hurt the favourites. There are no easy games, starting with the match against Switzerland.

“Albania until a few minutes before the end were inside the group, it’s never easy at this level because there are always very high rhythms. But this is, we are ready to face any kind of competition.”

Finally, El Shaarawy looked back at his time with Italy and if he has any regrets.

“Everyone always aims for the top. I have some regrets, I could’ve done a bit more, but I always tried to give my best for what was within my possibilities.

“To be here today is definitely a great privilege, I wanted to be here and I succeeded, even though I’m not playing. It’s a great satisfaction to be in the team and I’m happy about that.”