‘I had his poster’ – Italy’s Zaccagni delight after recreating Del Piero goal

Rome: Mattia Zaccagni grew up wanting to be like Alessandro Del Piero. How could he not, as an Italian aspiring No 10 who celebrated his 11th birthday in the summer of 2006?

He watched as Del Piero helped the Azzurri to a World Cup final, scoring the second of two goals in the dying moments of extra-time to defeat the hosts Germany. Italy went on to lift the trophy after beating France on penalties. Zaccagni could scarcely have dreamed back then that he would one day have a chance to recreate Del Piero’s strike while representing Italy at a major tournament in the same country.

His goal, too, arrived in the dying seconds of a game. Admittedly, the stakes against Croatia on Monday were lower: Italy fighting only to secure a runners-up spot in Euro 2024’s Group B. Even a loss might not have eliminated them, leaving open the chance of progressing as one of the best third-placed teams.

Even so, Italy’s energy felt desperate as they trailed 1-0 deep into second-half injury time. It was the 98th-minute when the defender Riccardo Calafiori made one final push, driving towards the edge of the D before releasing the ball to his left. Zaccagni, arrowing in from the wing, was further out than Del Piero had been, but the way he opened his body to finish first-time into the far top corner gave a nation flashbacks.

His goal had even sent Italy back to Berlin – the city where they played that final in 2006, and where Switzerland await in the last-16. “I didn’t realise we were down to the last attack of the game,” Zaccagni said during a post-game interview. “But Calafiori gave me a perfect ball to hit first-time and I didn’t think twice.”

Shown a replay of Del Piero’s goal from 18 years ago, he could not hold back a grin. “Alex was my idol since forever,” said Zaccagni. “I had his poster in my room when I was little. Before we left for Germany he came to see us at [Italy’s training base at] Coverciano. We had a chance to speak on Instagram since then, too. It was a huge emotion.”

This stage is still new to Zaccagni. Monday was only his seventh appearance for Italy, and his first international goal, details that might appear surprising when you consider how productive he has been at Lazio. Successive Italy managers have lamented the scarcity of attacking options available to them, so how could a player who scored 10 times playing mostly off the left wing for the Biancocelesti in 2022-23 not have featured more?

The answer goes back to a falling out with Roberto Mancini, who gave Zaccagni his first call-up in 2020 and his international debut in March 2022. Zaccagni was included again when the national team got together for a series of Nations League games that June, but dropped out early, together with club teammate Manuel Lazzarri, citing injuries.

Mancini expressed surprise, saying they had seemed fine. Newspapers speculated the pair were suffering from “mal di vacanze” – sickness of wanting to be on holiday at the end of a long campaign. Although Mancini made no such claim in his public statements, insisting “the door is open to everyone”, he never called either player up again.

When Spalletti succeeded Mancini last September, he immediately named Zaccagni in the starting line-up for both of his first two games in charge. Injuries limited the player’s opportunities subsequently, but the manager introduced him off the bench during Italy’s unsuccessful pursuit of an equaliser against Spain last week. He was rewarded for repeating the move against Croatia.

Can it be a turning point? The defending European champions have been a mixed bag at this tournament, bouncing back from a disastrous start to beat Albania before being comprehensively outplayed by Spain. Spalletti changed his 4-3-3 to a 3-5-2 against Croatia, as well as removing Federico Chiesa and Gianluca Scamacca from the attack to introduce Mateo Retegui and Giacomo Raspadori.