Mancini targets semis, urges Italy to entertain in Euro 2020 opener

TIL Desk Sports/ Italy coach Roberto Mancini hopes his players can put on a show in the opening game of Euro 2020 against Turkey and his ambition is to take them to at least the semi-finals, he said on Thursday.  The Azzurri face Turkey at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico on Friday in the tournament’s first match.

Mancini’s side come into the Euros on a 27-match unbeaten run stretching back to 2018 and have been tipped by many as dark horses to win it. “I think after everything we have gone through, now is the time to try and put a smile back on faces,” Mancini told a news conference.

“That will be our aim over the next month, we want people to enjoy themselves and have fun. I think it will be a wonderful time for everyone over 90 minutes, we will give it everything. “The opening match is the hardest one, above all at the start of the tournament. We have to be free and try to have fun, that should be the aim.”  Mancini has overseen a transformation of the national team since their humiliating failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.