There’s no Andrea Pirlo. There’s no Claudio Marchisio. There’s also no Marco Verratti.
But should we ever write off an Italian side at a major tournament? Absolutely not.
Playing ‘Everybody’s dark horse™’, Belgium, an Azzurri side that nobody really expected to do well at Euro 2016 found themselves taking a first half lead. Emanuele Giaccherini, picked out with a brilliant pass from Leonardo Bonucci, made no mistake as he slotted past Thibaut Courtois.
But never mind the fact that an un-fancied Italy side were leading against the highest ranked team in the competition, just look what the goal did to Antonio Conte…
Italian manager Antonio Conte gets a bloody nose celebrating his teams first goal. https://t.co/LPv9WygLei
— Faizal Khamisa (@FaizalKhamisa) June 13, 2016
It may have only been a trickle of claret, but as the Chelsea-bound manager pressed a tissue against his bloodied nose, plenty of folk speculated what had caused it.
Then we found out…
https://twitter.com/ankitpathak04/status/742443884916015104
Right in the thick of the Italian celebrations, it seems Mr Conte got a smack in the nose in amidst the jubilant scenes.
He didn’t seem too impressed but hey, at least it amused plenty of viewers.
LOL Antonio Conte with a bloody nose after the celebration.
— Siyanda (@Siya90) June 13, 2016
Conte with a nose bleed, shocking, Fellaini is even elbowing managers now
— Ben (@CriminalCosta) June 13, 2016
Low vs Conte in "The Nose battle" #BELITA #BelgioItalia pic.twitter.com/ouPjBCoEDG
— giulio fru (@giuliofru) June 13, 2016
