The embrace shared between Italy coach Roberto Mancini and Azzurri head of delegation Gianluca Vialli after the Euro 2020 Final has been immortalised in a mural painted in Adria, located in the northern Italian region of Veneto.
Gionata Gesi, better known as Ozmo, completed the painting of the former Sampdoria duo celebrating the tournament triumph in July, which can be found at he training ground of a youth team called Bocar Juniors.
“Among the images of the latest European football championship, one above all will remain etched in the hearts and memories of all: the embrace between Roberto Mancini and Gianluca Vialli, after the decisive save by [Gianluigi] Donnarumma which crowned us as winners at Wembley Stadium,” Ozmo wrote on Instagram.
“In that embrace there were joy, anger, redemption and rebirth: the joy of a Euro just won, after the now faded one of 1968, the anger for an adverse fate that did not require champions, the redemption of a nation among the first to be bent by an unknown and terrible virus, the rebirth of a football movement that until a few years ago seemed to be lost.”
Italy defeated England 3-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw after extra time, securing Gli Azzurri’s first European title since 1968 and second overall.
Mancini and Vialli are a part of Italy’s coaching staff, and they played together at Sampdoria, winning the Serie A title with Il Doria in 1990/91.