De Luca delighted to lead Italy in decider
Saturday 13 December 2008
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A moment of pre-final reflection for Italy captain Massimo De Luca (©sportsfile)
On Sunday afternoon Massimo De Luca will lead Italy into the Yubileyny Sports Palace for the first UEFA European Under-21 Futsal Tournament final against Russia in St Petersburg and even at his tender age he knows he will experience one of the high points of his career.
Highs and lows
The Azzurrini captain has had highs and lows in the tournament, having been injured in the disappointing opening 2-2 draw with Slovenia and missing the nervous 2-1 defeat of Croatia. De Luca, however, was back for the group encounter with Russia, another 2-2 draw that clinched a semi-final place, and was part of the tremendous rearguard that earned a 1-0 last-four win against Spain and a berth in Sunday's decider.
Peak
"In my career I think that now I've arrived at the peak, the most a guy aged 21 can aim at," De Luca said. "There are responsibilities, but we have an extraordinary squad that doesn't pile them on to me. All the players stay close to me: from those on the field to the ones not playing, the staff, everybody. This is the most beautiful thing, probably the true force that has carried us up to here."
Semi-final delight
Beating the previously unstoppable force of Spain has only helped the spirit further. "Morale is, for sure, at the maximum," the Napoli Barrese C/5 player confirmed. "The win against Spain was something extraordinary. We started a journey two years ago with the coach [Paolo Minicucci] and all the staff and we have arrived at the end."
Tension
A perfect conclusion, of course, would be to beat the hosts. De Luca warns against reading too much into the previous encounter on Thursday. "The game against Russia in Group A was a strange game, we had to be careful about the result between Croatia and Slovenia," he said. "The final is the final, everything changes, there is more tension, it is a special game. We don't know what we have to change, the coach will tell us, he will instruct us on what to do on the pitch."
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