Samuele Ricci reveals his childhood idol

Samuele Ricci reveals his childhood idol

Samuele Ricci spoke in a press conference on the eve of Italy-Israel, a match valid for the second day of the group stage of the Nations League. "I did not expect such an exploit against France,” he began, “but I also believed a lot in the work done during the week in Coverciano. S'è created a very united group and we brought everything back in the match. In the national team there are many strong players".

"Honestly, I do not know much about the Israeli players, but they will surely put us in a lot of trouble and they will have very promising youngsters,” added the Azzurri midfielder. We come from a victory against France, but it should not be taken under any circumstances, these are the most difficult matches. We have to put on the field again the attitude shown with France".

Then, the Torino midfielder revealed his idol as a child: "I used to watch Pirlo a lot as a midfielder, but there have been so many of them…. We had so many really strong players, but the footballer I saw the most was definitely Pirlo".

"The spirit è the right one, I am convinced that we will play against Israel as we did against France. This è a united group, we almost all play in Serie A and we know each other and this I think can make the difference" concluded Ricci.