Home - video - article
Citta the elephant picks Italy to beat Germany in Euro 2012 semis
Posted Thursday, June 28, 2012 by SNTV

Intro:

Citta the 'psychic' elephant predicted that it will be Italy versus Portugal in Sunday's Euro 2012 final.

She rejected Germany by eating a melon labelled Italy at Krakow Zoo in Poland.

Script:

Citta the psychic elephant, depending on whether you believe that or not, has few predictions left to make at Euro 2012.

The 33 year-old pachyderm still holding court at Krakow Zoo in Poland, where crowds gather for her predictions.

She did correctly pick the winners in all four quarter-finals.

We'll obviously generously forget her distinctly shaky start in the 'psychic animal' business when she got her first three predictions wrong in the group stage.

She's already plumped for underdogs Portugal to upset current European and World champions Spain in the first semi on Wednesday.

How about Italy v Germany? How's that going to go then? Citta displaying her customary sense of drama.

"It was a very strange situation. She came to the German plaque very firmly, stopped in front of it, she almost took it with a trumpet like she would like to pick it up. Then she started to think and under the impulse she picked up Italy. She was still standing in front of the Italian plaque."

Zoo director Dr Jozef Skotnicki puzzled by it all.

And well her may be, with Citta choosing a final line-up that few others would have predicted. What does Citta know? Dr Skotnicki's not sure she knows much:

"She bets on Italy and Portugal in the final. Two lively teams, very interesting. If it happens it will be very interesting."

Citta might do well to remember Paul the octopus, who predicted results in the 2010 World Cup. He bet against the Germans too. Sadly no longer with us.

Standings
    Rank Team W/D/L Pts

    Cities & Stadiums

    The Top 3 Teams of Previous Tournaments

    Year Winners Runner-up Third place
    2008SpainGermanyRussia / Turkey
    2004GreecePortugalNetherlands / Czech Republic
    2000FranceItalyNetherlands / Portugal
    1996GermanyCzech RepublicFrance / England
    1992DenmarkGermanyNetherlands / Sweden
    1988NetherlandsSoviet UnionItaly / West Germany
    1984FranceSpainDenmark / Portugal
    1980West GermanyBelgiumCzechoslovakia
    1976CzechoslovakiaWest GermanyNetherlands
    1972West GermanySoviet UnionBelgium
    1968ItalyYugoslaviaEngland
    1964SpainSoviet UnionHungary
    1960Soviet UnionYugoslaviaCzechoslovakia