Three years ago, Gianluigi Donnarumma led Italy to the title as "Player of the Tournament". At this European Championship, the 25-year-old is once again making a big impression - also thanks to tips from his predecessor.
Donnarumma is not without controversy at Paris Saint-Germain due to his sometimes reckless mistakes with the ball at his feet. This also applied to the national team for a long time. In addition, Milan fans in particular resented his move to PSG after a total of eight years at his youth club. But that has long since changed; at public training sessions in Iserlohn, Donnarumma had to spend a long time signing autographs and fulfilling photo requests.
"Wearing this jersey and knowing that you have 60 million Italians behind you is incredible," said the goalie. "The last European Championship was fantastic, an unforgettable memory. Now we're trying to write another chapter of history for Italy."
Support from Buffon
Donnarumma has had an outstanding tournament so far and has been one of the team's best in every game. With his saves, he played a big part in Italy only losing 1-0 to Spain and reaching the round of 16 against Croatia with a goal in stoppage time. "He was an insurmountable bulwark," enthused team manager Gianluigi Buffon about his successor between the posts.
With the support of record player Buffon (176 games), who became world champion in the Berlin Olympic Stadium in 2006, Donnarumma now wants to achieve something similar. Buffon is very close to the team at the team headquarters in Iserlohn, giving kisses and hugs in the dressing room after matches. "Of course it helps us a lot to have Gigi here, who made history here in 2006," said Donnarumma. "He talks about his experiences, about that unforgettable summer. Gigi gives us a lot. When he gives us advice, it's even better."
Even if it seems that the team still needs some time to mature after the hasty departure of coach Roberto Mancini last August: With the support of Buffon and the saves of Donnarumma, Italy will want to return to the final in Berlin once again. A successful title defense - even goalkeeping icon Buffon was unable to achieve that.
