It was July and the EURO finals. Leonardo Bonucci scored the goal to make it 1-1 and celebrated typically, puffing his cheeks out and twirling his finger in front of his mouth. It goes to extra time, and then to penalties. If you think this story has a happy ending, you’re wrong. We aren’t at Wembley and it’s not 11 July 2021 and we hadn’t just beat England in their own backyard. To lift the trophy once again we had to wait another five years. Our time machine takes us to Bordeaux. It’s 2 July 2016 and it’s the quarter-finals between Italy and Germany and the game was being decided from the spot. Most people think of Simone Zaza and Graziano Pellé’s misses but not many remember that Darmian and Bonucci also made mistakes: “I decided to change the angle from the penalty in the match - said the former Azzurri captain in his interview with figc.it - but the mistake was stopping in the run-up. If I could go back to that moment today, I would kick across the keeper, without stalling, to give Neuer less time”.

And to think that not too much earlier it was him who beat the German keeper from the spot. “It is the first penalty in my career that I took within 90 minutes, and I felt taking the penalty allowed me to really establish myself at an international level. It was a small personal victory, even though the disappointment after the match was huge”. Italy left with their heads held high after being knocked out by the World Champions and having beaten Spain in the Round of 16. “In terms of quality and technique, we weren’t one of the strongest sides, but thanks to Conte and his staff, we became a great group and we were a family. We were determined to do something historic, we got close. We made Germany change their play style against us and this was a small win”. 

Almost nine years later, Italy and Germany are back up against each other in a quarter-final, this time in the Nations League. The first leg is scheduled for Thursday 20 March in Milan (for more info on tickets click here) at San Siro, where Bonucci played two of his six matches against Germany in his career, both of which were friendlies in 2013 and 2016 and both ended in a draw. “Playing in a full San Siro fires you up. I am sure that this time there will be many fans and it will be a great match between two teams that play great football. There will be many chances, the fans will enjoy it”. Leo is now the Under-20s assistant manager, and he will have to watch the game on the TV as the Azzurrini are playing in the Elite League in Istanbul on 20 March. “I think the player that is technically most similar to me in this team is Bastoni, in terms of leadership I’d say Gigio Donnarumma, and although he has a different personality to me, he is a role model like I was. It seems that there is great chemistry between the squad and the staff, which is key in getting results”

As a European champion in 2021, the ex-Azzurri defender is one of Italy’s eight “centenarians”, and he is the fourth highest-capped player ever (121) behind Gigi Buffon (176), Fabio Cannavaro (136) and Paolo Maldini (126). He also has a great memory against the Germans, booking Italy’s ticket for the European finals. Just like in 2016, Barzagli, Bonucci and Chiellini, the legendary BBC, all played, with Gigi Buffon in goal: “I remember suffering at the end of that match and if the match was ten minutes longer we may have lost. After playing great in the first half, we were very tired, and we were relying on Gigi (Buffon), and we were waiting for the referee to blow the final whistle”.

There are many great players that we faced against Germany, but there was one in particular that Leo pointed out; “When Mario Gomez was playing, you could never let him go, you always had to try and predict what he would do. I had a good relationship with Sami Khedira, who was one of the strongest centre-midfielders that I ever played with”. As a fan, he remembered another game in the 2006 World Cup which was decided in extra time with goals from Grosso and Del Piero: “I had only just made my Serie A debut and at the end of May I was selected to train with the Under-21s. They gave me the number 13, my idol Alessandro Nesta’s shirt, and I wore this during World Cup matches. When Grosso scored, I ran to the window and shouted with joy. I remember the celebrations and the excitement of beating Germany at home”. 15 years later, history repeated itself and Leo celebrated another Italy victory but this time as a player.