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Milan readies for all-Spanish Champions League final

Milan’s San Siro stadium is preparing for a glitzy all-Spanish final of the Champions League final on Saturday, as fans of Real and Atletico Madrid packed the city in glorious summer sunshine.

Milan readies for all-Spanish Champions League final
It is the fourth time the final of Europe’s premier club event will to be held at the San Siro. Photo: AFP

Record ten-time champions Real, who won the inaugural trophy in 1956, are gunning for their 11th title from European football’s premier club event two years after a stunning comeback victory over Atletico in Lisbon secured ‘La Decima’.

Cristiano Ronaldo has given Real fans a huge boost with the news he is 100% fit following a training ground scare on Tuesday and coach Zinedine Zidane is counting on the Portuguese superstar to rise to the occasion.

“He’s 100 percent fit and he’s playing a Champions League final, when you transcend yourself,” said Zidane, appearing in a first Champions League final as a coach after succeeding Rafael Benitez at the helm earlier this season.

Zidane, who won the trophy as a player with Real in 2002, is seeking to emulate Italian Carlo Ancelotti in steering Real to victory, in what is the Frenchman’s first season in charge at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium.

“We’ve had two weeks to prepare and now what the players want is for the ball to start rolling,” said ZIdane.

It is the fourth time the final of Europe’s premier club event will to be held at the San Siro, and the first since Bayern Munich beat Valencia in 2001.

Even before kick-off, a slice of Champions League history will be made.

R&B star Alicia Keys will become the first artist to perform live at the final during a glitzy, nine-minute opening ceremony that will feature 400 dancers and be capped by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli singing the competition’s anthem.

Atletico, however, are the ones hoping to be singing and dancing in the streets of Milan later Saturday as the ‘Rojiblancos’ go in search of a maiden trophy.

Coached by former Argentina international Diego Simeone, Atletico have won the Europa League — European football’s second-tier competition — twice in recent years (2010, 2012) and threatened the decades-long dominance of Real and Barcelona in ‘La Liga’, which they won in 2014 to add to a Spanish Cup victory in 2013.

Two years after Real’s shock comeback win in Lisbon, Simeone is ready to end a 113-year wait to be crowned kings of Europe.

“I like to have 113 years of history on my back. I love the pressure,” said Simeone, who will be hoping seven-goal striker Antoine Griezmann or Fernando Torres continue their fine form in the competition.

Torres — a Champions League winner with Chelsea in 2012 — said he’s ready to give it everything.

“There’s no doubt, it’s the most important game I am ever going to play,” said Torres, who returned to his childhood club in 2014 following an ill-fated spell in Serie A with AC Milan.

“With Chelsea and the Spanish national team I’ve won a lot of titles, but this is really special for me. To me it means everything. It’s the game of my life.”

FOOTBALL

Euro 2020: Concern about virus spread after Italy players’ ‘unauthorised’ victory parade through Rome

Italy’s national football team reportedly insisted on taking an open-top bus tour through Rome to show off their European Championship trophy to crowds of fans - despite city authorities forbidding it amid concern about the spread of coronavirus.

Euro 2020: Concern about virus spread after Italy players' ‘unauthorised’ victory parade through Rome
Photo: Tiziana Fabi/AFP

The team’s bus parade through the city on Monday night following their Euro 2020 triumph “was not authorised”, according to Matteo Piantedosi the head of Rome’s prefettura (the public safety authority).

Thousands of fans packed the streets of central Rome to see the team celebrate their cup win after beating England on penalties in the final.

READ ALSO: ‘Football came home’: Italy celebrates Euro 2020 victory over England

Piantedosi told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera on Wednesday: “We had denied permission to celebrate Italy’s victory in the European Championships on the open bus, but the pact was not respected.”

Piantedosi, who is Rome’s top public security official, said police had “no choice” but to let the parade go ahead after players Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci insisted on it.

Photo: Vincenzo Pinto/AFP

A meeting had been held on Friday with the Italian football federation (FIGC) to discuss plans for the celebrations if Italy won, said Piantedosi.

“I had agreed the line with Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese and Chief of Police Lamberto Giannini,” he said.

“It was clearly explained that [the parade] was not possible. We said we could not authorize it.”

Piantedosi said the Italian football federation (FIGC) initially agreed to hold a “controlled” ceremony in Rome’s central Piazza del Popolo instead of the parade.

After players insisted on the bus tour on Monday however, Piantedosi said, authorities reluctantly let them go ahead due to fears of sparking public disorder.

“At that point we had no choice but to acknowledge the situation and handle it in the best way we could,” he said.

READ ALSO: Covid cases on the rise in Europe once again as WHO warns of Euro 2020 risk

Photo: Andreas Solaro/AFP

In a statement on Wednesday, the FIGC said it had acted responsibly but decided not to disappoint fans who had come to celebrate with the team.

Footage of large crowds thronging the bus carrying the ‘Azzurri’ and the European Championship trophy through the capital however fuelled concerns about new outbreaks of coronavirus, after Italy’s infection rate began to rise again last week.

The World Health Organization warned earlier this month that crowds and gatherings connected to football matches will fuel a new rise in cases across Europe this summer.

READ ALSO: Delta variant in Italy will be ‘prevalent within 10 days’: health official

Italy’s health minister Roberto Speranza also voiced concerns on Monday about the consequences of people gathering to watch sporting events.

He said the European football championship win was “a great joy after terrible months,” but “even in these moments of national pride we can’t forget that our ‘game’ to defeat Covid is not yet won.”

There are currently minimal health restrictions in place across Italy, however masks are supposed to be worn in crowded public places, including outdoors.

“Footage shows that police were virtually the only ones [in the crowd] wearing masks,” said Piantedosi.

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