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在线翻译:
szdaily -> Sports -> 
Triumphant Italian team returns to Rome
    2021-07-14  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

THOUSANDS of fans packed Rome’s sidewalks to wildly cheer Europe’s new soccer champions as Italy toured the city in an open-topped bus Monday evening, crowning a day that saw them honored at the presidential palace and premier’s office.

The first Italy team to win the European Championship in 53 years knew it was in for an exhilarating day when it arrived at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci Airport at dawn from London to be welcomed by a banner on the tarmac reading, “Grazie Azzurri.”

To rousing cheers from airport workers, captain Giorgio Chiellini pumped his fist in the air, and coach Roberto Mancini hoisted the trophy high over their heads. There was even a cheer for defender Leonardo Spinazzola, as he hopped down the steps on one foot, his other in a cast from an Achilles tendon injury.

Italian President Sergio Mattarella was at Wembley Stadium on Sunday night cheering with Azzurri fans as Italy won the Euro 2020 final following a 3-2 penalty shootout win over England.

Then Mattarella raced back to Rome to be at the Quirinal presidential palace to greet the team. “I’m not a [soccer] commentator,” the president said, “but I thought you deserved the victory well beyond whatever happened during the penalty shootout.”

Coach Mancini replied, “Let me thank you for being our No. 1 fan. We saw you exult, that gave us much pleasure.”

In another compliment, Mattarella said, “You displayed a harmony of team among yourselves and in play, and now this is an extraordinary value, the sense of sport.”

“This,” captain Chiellini said, “is the success of a group, who even in difficult moments never lost heart.”

In between the formal celebrations, some Italy players made a quick stop at a military hospital to receive a second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, state TV said.

For Italians, the championship was a new beginning for their youthful national team and a country that’s been yearning to return to normality after being the first nation outside of Asia to be slammed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many Italians saw Euro 2020 uniting the country to relaunch after spending most of the past 16 months in pandemic lockdown. Italy has recorded more than 127,000 known COVID-19 deaths, the highest in the 27-nation European Union.

“It’s been a complicated year for everyone but especially for us who were one of the first countries hit. This is a signal of a new beginning,” said Michela Solfanelli, a 30-year-old event producer based in Milan.

(SD-Agencies)

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