Former assistant coach of the Belgium national team, Vital Borkelmans, believes that Italy are a sleeping giant that has now woken up.
Borkelmans was the assistant to Marc Wilmots between 2012 and 2016. He went on to coach the Jordan national team between 2018 and 2021, but he’s been looking ahead to Belgium’s Euro 2020 quarter-final against Italy on Friday.
Speaking to La Gazzetta dello Sport ahead of Italy’s Euro 2020 quarter-final against Belgium, Borkelmans made it clear that he thinks Italy are the favourites to win the game that many see as the biggest of the round.
“The sleeping giant has woken up and now everyone, including Belgium, is afraid of him. It will be tough for us, Italy has a cohesion that nobody has.”
When pressed on why specifically he is so wary of Italy’s talents, he highlighted three players in particular.
“That little guy there in front, [Lorenzo] Insigne, but also [Manuel] Locatelli and [Federico] Chiesa. Quality in power. It’s a team that is really scary.”
