Viva Inghilterra! Viva Italia! But I believe ENGLAND can win, says NANCY DELL’OLIO

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When I got together with Sven-Goran Eriksson in 1998, he was manager of the Italian Serie A club Lazio in Rome.

The team captain was a phenomenal playmaker known to us all as ‘Mancio’. He had played for Sven at his previous club, Sampdoria, and Sven took him with him to Lazio.

That pairing was key to the club’s triumph in the Italian championship in 2000 for only the second time in its history.

Sven and Mancio got on so well that when he retired as a player, my now ex-partner made him his No 2 on the coaching staff.

Today ‘Mancio’ is Roberto Mancini, the legendary manager of Italy. Later, as England’s manager between 2001 and 2006, Sven also had extensive dealings with Gareth Southgate when the now England coach was a player.

As a dedicated football fan who was at Sven’s side throughout those years, in Rome and later in London, I feel I’m better qualified than most to predict the result of tomorrow’s historic match against my homeland’s national side.

And . . . I believe that England could well win the match.

Sure, Italy have more of a history of winning on the big occasions —four World Cups to England’s one, for example — but this time your side have a number of advantages. England are playing at home for a start. 

At Wembley — the same hallowed venue where, 55 years ago, another plucky England side triumphed. Plus, you are hungrier for success.

Then, of course, there’s that amazing ‘Blitz spirit’ that saw your nation through World War II and which I believe remains firmly embedded in the national psyche to this day. 

Even though Sven and I are history, I have been wondering this week how he feels about the epic clash between his two former proteges.

He had such a strong bond with Mancini and a very good relationship with Southgate that I would even go so far to suggest that their success as managers is partly down to him.

We would have the occasional dinner with Mancini, and I remember him as very reserved but decisive, determined, even stubborn.

Even as a player, he behaved like a manager. I remember Sven used to say: ‘He was the coach, the kit man, the bus driver, everything.’

While that element of control freakery made Mancini perfect managerial material, he also benefited from working with a coach of the stature of Sven. Mancini has said that Sven was the best manager he ever had.

Southgate shares similarities with both Sven — that laidback approach — and Mancini in his enormous self-control.

I always liked Gareth’s good manners. He is courteous, polite, a gentleman. Indeed, his behaviour on the touchline at this tournament has reminded me of Sven. He has that same air of elegance.

And he has the respect of the players because he has his ego under control. You would never see him effing and blinding or gesticulating like an Italian traffic cop — a clenched jaw and the odd pumping arm is as uncontrolled as it gets for Gareth.

So, yes, it seems to me that Southgate is very similar to Sven in some ways. But the team is very different to the one Sven managed. Despite the relative youth of several members of the squad, they are so much more mature. 

Euro 2020 has brought back so many memories. It’s hard to believe that 17 years have passed since Sven took England to Euro 2004 and England went out in the quarter-finals against Portugal on penalties.

Strange as it may seem given Sven’s somewhat chequered history as manager of England, if the Three Lions do become champions of Europe then I believe he deserves some of the credit.

He brought many forward-thinking changes and innovations to the England camp. He was a great believer in meticulous preparation, for example, from blood tests and checks on energy levels to diet and psychological support.

He realised that football is not just a physical pursuit, it is a game of the head and the heart, too.

He also understood that family problems can create tension and worked with players on an emotional level. Many England fans may disagree but he started a revolution and his legacy is helping the side of today.

Whoever wins tomorrow night, I cannot lose. Naturally, Italy is my homeland and I have a house there. But having moved to London 20 years ago, I consider England my adopted country.

At the time I moved here with Sven, the England job was considered the third most important office of state. There was the Queen, the Prime Minister, and then there was ‘Sven and Nancy’.

The scrutiny was all the more intense because he was the first foreign coach to manage England.It’s not over-egging the stracciatella to say my years here have had a profound impact on me, for better or worse, and English football was a huge part of my life.

Spending so much time around the national team, being with footballers and seeing how they live, was a unique experience that coloured my experience of England. 

But watching the Euros this year has made me reflect on how things have changed since I was the first lady of English football.

Back then, the WAGs, Cheryl Cole (then with England defender Ashley Cole) and Victoria Beckham got way more attention than the wingers did. Sven and I would talk about it. 

He didn’t think it was a problem but I felt it was a distraction for the players — and for me personally, being constantly under the spotlight made life difficult.

Today, there is much less focus on the players’ other halves.

Tomorrow night I’ll be watching the match at my family home in Puglia, southern Italy, where I spent lockdown. 

Two years ago I was recruited by the governor to become an ambassador for the region, which meant travelling all over the world to promote it. Then along came Covid, which grounded everyone and forced me to lead a slightly more low-key life.

I would love to be in London and with the crowds at Wembley. I’ll be back soon but until then — Viva Italia! Viva Inghilterra! One side must lose but I’ll be a winner whatever the result.