First Belgium, then Spain. Glasses are being chinked and backs are being slapped red in the boardroom at Chelsea as Antonio Conte takes down the best teams at Euro 2016.
As the Italians asked their manager why he had to leave, the key movers and shakers at Stamford Bridge will certainly be feeling smug.
Conte is going to be intense, quotable and watchable. They might just have to extend the technical area to accommodate him.
‘I’m a real animal out there, as you’ve heard from my players,’ smiled Conte. ‘All those on the bench play the game just as I play it on the touchline. We all have a shower and we’re all exhausted at the end.
‘Our fitness coach did suggest hooking me up on a GPS system to see what distance I covered and what were the intensity levels. But I don’t feel that fit because I don’t have time to train.’
Conte did not rest for a second as his team replicated his game plan to perfection against Spain, taking a first-half lead through Giorgio Chiellini, defending with strength and organisation before Graziano Pelle grabbed a late second.
As his players celebrated in a heap, Conte (right) turned and ran towards his dug-out, hauling himself up on to the roof.
Earlier, when the score was poised at 1-0 and Spain were exerting pressure, the ball bounced towards the Italy manager.
Instinctively, he hooked it with his right foot over the advertising boards, further from the goal defended by Gianluigi Buffon.
The Spanish were not impressed and Turkish referee Cuneyt Cakir trotted over to practice his Italian.
‘I’m someone who becomes close to the people I work with,’ said Conte, when asked how he could walk away from this team he has forged over two years.
‘But I’ve made a choice. I will have experience abroad but Italy has a place in my heart.
‘I really hope to be Italy coach one day again in the future because there is no experience like it.’
The Italians will face Germany in Bordeaux in the quarter-finals on Saturday.
‘They are a cut above the rest,’ said Conte. ‘We will have to do something absolutely extraordinary because just simply extraordinary might not be enough.’
Not helped by Thiago Motta’s yellow card last night which rules him out against the Germans and a hip injury which forced Daniele De Rossi off early in the second half.
Regardless of what happens in Bordeaux, Conte’s reign will be remembered for this emotional victory, Italy’s first against Spain in a major tournament since a controversial quarter-final in the World Cup in the United States 12 years ago, a game in which he played.
Since then, the Azzurri have swallowed an agonising defeat on penalties in the Euro 2008 semi-final and a 4-0 hammering in the final of the Euros, in Kiev, four years later.
There were survivors in the defensive unit, including Buffon, who made a save from Gerard Pique when the score was 1-0 last night which was as important as either goal.
‘Clearly beating Spain wasn’t on the agenda,’ said Conte. ‘It’s been a while.
‘It’s only right every now and then that we can celebrate. We’re delighted it occurred today in a knockout game, a game I call a game with no tomorrow. There’s no tomorrow for Spain. There is for us.
‘I’m delighted for the players. They deserve it. They enjoy making Italy proud and that’s the greatest achievement, all 23 of them.
‘We have worked in intense fashion for over a month to try and do something great and surprise everyone a bit and I think we’ve succeeded to an extent.
‘Spain are one of the best sides in the world. There’s no point hiding the fact it’s not the rosiest period for Italy in terms of footballing talent. So we need to be a team. I’ve tried to wage a battle over two years so people grasp this point. And I think we are a team.’
– Daily Mail