Bonucci believes catenccio reputation shaken off
Italy's Leonardo Bonucci
The defender was in floods of tears after the final whistle in Kiev, which saw Spain beat Italy 4-0, but remains happy with the feat he and his teammates managed to do in changing the Azzurri’s identity.
“It’s a heavy blow. You can lose a final, but it hurts to lose it like this,” he told Rai Sport.
“Spain are certainly a step above the rest and we have to keep working to reach their level, but we are on the right track.
“We have earned our identity, shaken off the reputation of catenaccio and must now continue along this path.”
The centre-back was at the heart of Italy’s backline which was nearly comprised fully of Juventus players in the shape of Gianluigi Buffon, Giorgio Chiellini and Andrea Barazgli.
When there is a block of players from the same club, they know each other well and so there was an excellent rapport. But this is also Cesare Prandelli’s side and he gave us an important identity, which was playing the ball at all times.
“We showed against a great side like Germany that we could be united, solid and determined enough to run the game. We were missing something this evening.”
{message}