Master class: Chelsea celebrate Champions League glory
Motta may have harked back to the Italian tactic of catenaccio - it translates as door bolt, and was an ultra-defensive strategy developed by Helenio Herrera, of Inter Milan, in the 1960s - but he could just as easily have cited Chelsea. Their performances against Barcelona and Bayern Munich are regarded as master classes in the art of winning without the ball.
Italy know they are not as good as Spain. Yet, when the teams meet in Gdansk tomorrow, recent events at the Nou Camp and Munich's Allianz Arena allow them to take heart.
Motta was part of the Inter team that defeated Barcelona en route to the Champions League final in 2010, while Holland went close to kicking Spain out of the World Cup final that year, too. Another Italian midfielder, Daniele de Rossi, sports a tattoo on his right calf, with a leg-breaking challenge inside a warning triangle.
One presumes he is still on the correct side of that message and any determination to win here will be exercised with restraint. Holland's tactics in Johannesburg demonstrated that even the highest ideals can be corrupted in the presence of a trophy.
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Rank | Team | W/D/L | Pts |
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Cities & Stadiums
The Top 3 Teams of Previous Tournaments
Year | Winners | Runner-up | Third place |
---|---|---|---|
2008 | Spain | Germany | Russia / Turkey |
2004 | Greece | Portugal | Netherlands / Czech Republic |
2000 | France | Italy | Netherlands / Portugal |
1996 | Germany | Czech Republic | France / England |
1992 | Denmark | Germany | Netherlands / Sweden |
1988 | Netherlands | Soviet Union | Italy / West Germany |
1984 | France | Spain | Denmark / Portugal |
1980 | West Germany | Belgium | Czechoslovakia |
1976 | Czechoslovakia | West Germany | Netherlands |
1972 | West Germany | Soviet Union | Belgium |
1968 | Italy | Yugoslavia | England |
1964 | Spain | Soviet Union | Hungary |
1960 | Soviet Union | Yugoslavia | Czechoslovakia |