Nearly 11 months after a continental victory against the English in their stronghold, Italy returns to London’s Wembley Stadium to face Lionel Messi and his fellow Argentina national team, the South American champion looking for morale after failing to qualify for the World Cup. Cup final for the second time in a row.

When Roberto Mancini’s side won the European Cup on 11 July 2021 at Wembley Stadium, beating the host country on penalties after a 1-1 draw in regulation and extra time, many felt that the Azzurri had shaken off the dust of disappointment from the failure. to qualify for the European Championship. The 2018 World Cup in Russia began an era that could lead him to his first world title since 2006 and fifth in his history.

The most pessimistic did not expect that the scenario would repeat itself and that Italy would once again have to taste the bitterness of the European playoffs that knocked it out of the world wedding for the first time since 1958 four years earlier, but the nightmare recurred, finishing behind Switzerland and then being eliminated her from the semi-finals of the third track of the European playoffs. With a fatal fall in Palermo against North Macedonia (0-1).

Even Messi cannot understand what has happened, saying “It’s crazy that Italy won the European Cup and couldn’t compete in the World Cup.” Win the World Cup in Qatar and no one wanted to face him.”

Despite the many criticisms he received after the Palermo disaster, Mancini was determined to keep going because “I am still young and my goal is to win the European Cup (achieved last summer) and the World Cup. The Cup has been somewhat delayed (until 2026),” emphasizing that “I still enjoy my job.”

Now, before thinking about the next European Championship in 2024 or the World Cup two years later, Mancini will have the opportunity to redeem himself on Wednesday by leading his country to victory in what he called the “Finalisima” of the match between European and southern teams. American champions.

This confrontation takes place within the framework of an updated memorandum of understanding between the European Union “Vifa” and its South American counterpart “CONMEBOL” until 2028, which will witness the creation of two other versions.

Argentina were eligible to represent CONMEBOL in this match after ending a 28-year wait to win a major championship by winning the Copa América at the expense of hosts Brazil 1-0 last July.

This is not the first time this match has been played between the European and South American champions, as it has already been played twice in 1985 when France beat Uruguay, then Argentina, led by their late legend Diego Maradona, was crowned in the championship. second edition at the expense of Denmark in 1993.

Mancini argues that “disappointment is still great, but we must start over.”

– Goodbye Chiellini –

But the new start does not concern defense tycoon and captain Giorgio Chiellini, who chose Wednesday’s matchup to say goodbye to the Azzurri after he was right to end his long international career at the end of the year at the World Cup in Qatar. .

The confrontation with Argentina will be the 117th and last in his international career, and the farewell to the team comes after his departure from Juventus at the end of last season, without revealing his future destination, but most likely it will be the American League.

The 37-year-old was saying goodbye to the national team with grief over the fact that he could not succeed with him at the World Cup, as he was not part of the squad that crowned the 2006 champion and then dropped out of the first squad. stage of the world championships in South Africa 2010 and Brazil 2014, before the nightmarish test of not getting into the world championships 2018 Russia and Qatar 2022.

The Italians will take advantage of Wednesday’s match to say goodbye to Chiellini in a clash that will also be an occasion to honor the Wembley Champions who won the European Cup last summer but without Ciro Immobile, Federico Chiesa or Domenico Berardi due to injuries. but with the participation of one of the brightest stars of the continental championship, Leonardo Spinazzola, whom Mancini called into the squad.

The Roma full-back tore his hamstring during his national team’s 2-1 victory over Belgium in the European Cup quarter-finals and only returned to action earlier this month.

Mancini will take advantage of the next four Nations League matches in June (twice against Germany, Hungary and England) to start a new building process and bring in new faces in an attempt to restore life and morale to the team on the rock. bottom after what happened to him in addition to the World Cup.

As for Argentina, the South American champions are starting preparations for the World Cup in Qatar, scheduled for November 21 to December 18, which puts them in a group at their disposal against Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Poland.

– Mbappe’s answer –

Messi will be keen to prove to his Paris Saint-Germain colleague Kylian Mbappé that the level of football in South America is not far from that of the old continent.

Mbappe angered some Argentine players when he said last week that South American football was “not developed” due to players not being strong enough to play “high-level matches” all the time.

Inter Milan striker Lautaro Martinez, who scored in Argentina’s 2021 Copa América victory against Brazil, dismissed the comments as “unfair”, saying he was “very happy with where we are”, especially since the vast majority of Argentina’s internationals play in Europe, and some of them are well known to Italians, such as Martinez, Paulo Dybala (Chileni’s Juventus teammate until this season), Joaquin Correa (Inter) or Nicolas Gonzalez (Fiorentina).

It is true that the team under Lionel Scaloni has not faced a European team for over two and a half years (2-2 against Germany in October 2019), but this does not detract from the importance of the period he is going through, and a run of 31 matches in a row without defeat (21 wins and 10 draws), which brings it closer to the number achieved, in particular, by Italy (a series of 37 consecutive matches was interrupted in October by a 1-2 defeat to Spain in the European Nations League semi-final).