A few hours before the Nations League fixture between Italy and the Netherlands, a delegation of FIGC and KNVB members travelled to the Monumental Cemetery of Bergamo, alongside representatives of the city and Atalanta. The Head Coach of the National team, Roberto Mancini, leader of the delegation Gianluca Vialli and Team Manager Gabriele Oriali, together with Mayor Giorgio Gori, the President of Atalanta Antonio Percassi, the President of the KNVB Just Spee and Secretary General Gijs de Jong, observed a moment of reflection and prayer, before laying two wreaths of flowers in memory of the victims of the pandemic over the past months: “To Bergamo and its people” was the dedication written on the wreath of flowers from the Azzurri.

It's a meaningful, symbolic act in one the cities most heavily hit by the COVID-19 virus, which was chosen as the venue for tonight’s match by the Federation; a decision taken in acknowledgement of the significant level of attention football receives globally and to continue to draw awareness to the cities in the province of Bergamo and to the suffering inflicted upon them by Coronavirus.

This evening on the terraces of the Gewiss stadium there will be a delegation of doctors and nurses from the Papa Giovanni XXIII and Humanitas hospitals as well as the 243 Mayors of the province attending the match between Roberto Mancini’s National team and the Netherlands. What’s more, in a show of solidarity and closeness with the city of Bergamo, the Curva Nord will be set up with a large tricolour.