Argentina-Italy, at Wembley: homage to Maradona, 60,000 Argentine fans and all the numbers of the Grand Final

Lionel Scaloni’s team will face Italy for Italy this afternoon, at 15:45 from Argentina Finalofficial cup that is fielded at Wembley by the champion of the Copa América and the European Championship.

It is a re-edition of the Artemio Franchi cupwhich he got only two editions for how compressed the calendar was in those years and, furthermore, for the fact that the Copa América started to be played every two years and it was controversial to choose which of the champions should qualify. Furthermore, the idea of ​​the Confederations Cup took hold and prevailed.

The first, in 1985 he had the French team of Michel Platini as champion, who the previous year had raised his first European title and won 2-0 against Uruguay, with Enzo Francescoli among the holders. The referee was the Argentine Abel Gnecco and it was played at the Parc des Princes.

After, in 1993 the cup was in the hands of two-time America’s champion Coco Basile against Denmark. At the José María Minella stadium in Mar del Plata it was 1-1 in regulation time and a 5-4 victory on penalties for the Albiceleste team. Caniggia scored the draw and then failed in the definition, but the Danes missed two.

There were three other editions that weren’t considered official titles, but just friendly ones. In 1989 and 1998 Brazil beat Holland and Germany respectively, while Spain beat Uruguay in 2013.

Now it officially returns in this 2022 under the name of “very final”. It will be played at Wembley, with a capacity of 90,000 spectators, and there will be almost 60,000 Argentines, a real audience that, for the most part, comes from different parts of Europe.

Final data

Javier “Pupi” Zanetti and Marco Tardelli will present the trophy and will be accompanied by two children, a tribute to Diego Armando Maradona and Paolo Rossi, emblems of both recently deceased teams.

Alejandro Domínguez and Aleksander Ceferin, respectively presidents of UEFA and Conmebol, will be present to present the trophy to the winner, the medals for the runner-up and the “Man of the Match” award to players from each of their confederations.

Also, in the previous tribute it will be paid to Giorgio Chiellini, who will play his 117th and last match with Azzurra. He played two World Cups, won the European Championship in 2020 and the Under 19 European Cup in 2003, for which a video will be shown in recognition of his great career.

In a strictly football context, in the event of a tie in the 90 minutes, the champion will be defined on penalties; there will be no extra time.

The referee will be the Chilean Piero Maza and the television will be operated by ESPN and Star +.

It will be a good opportunity to compete with an elite team, so much in demand lately by Scaloni’s team, and it will also be a testing ground for the World Cup. Apart from the matches with Brazil for the Copa América and the qualifying rounds, there has recently been no match against some of those aspiring to become world champions at the end of the year.

Beyond the fact that Italy failed to qualify for Qatar 2022, it still remains a more than respectable team with figures of the stature of Donnaruma, Bonucci, Jorginho and Insigne, who play for some of the biggest clubs in the world. And in the bank he will wait Marco VerrettiLionel Messi’s teammate at PSG.

On the Argentine side, with the World Cup list almost entirely defined, the surnames of a notice that will finally be for 26 players are beginning to be defined. One of these is Nicolás Tagliafico, who will leave in place of Marcos Acuña, with muscle discomfort. In addition, Guido Rodríguez appears as the natural replacement for Leandro Paredes, also with physical difficulties.

probable formations

Italy (home): Gianluigi Donnarumma; Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Giorgio Chiellini, Leonardo Bonucci, Emerson Palmieri; Matteo Pessina, Jorginho, Nicolò Barella; Federico Bernardeschi, Andrea Belotti, Lorenzo Insigne. DT: Roberto Mancini.

Argentina (away): Emiliano Martinez; Nahuel Molina, Cristian Romero, Nicolás Otamendi and Nicolás Tagliafico; Rodrigo DePaul, Guido Rodríguez, Giovani Lo Celso; Lionel Messi, Lautaro Martinez and Angel Di Maria. DT: Lionel Scaloni.

Coverage of the Grand Final

In addition to not having the importance of a Copa América or a World Cup, there is a great gaming atmosphere in London and there is great anticipationwhich explains the huge number of journalists who will be present at Wembley to follow this match.

There are 206 accredited media43 of them from South America and 61 photographers. It will be seen in more than 100 countries and is expected to reach approximately 45 million viewers worldwide., with television contracts with more than 45 international channels. Among the most important are ESPN Latin America, ESPN Brazil, RAI Italy (TV and Radio), Premier Sports UK, TVE Spain, Plus4 Austria, Talksport UK and BeIN Sports from Qatar.