When the Italian players came out onto the pitch at their training camp in Geel, near Antwerp, yesterday morning, they were greeted with a noisy chorus of "Tanti Auguri A Te" (Happy Birthday to You). The object of the enthusiastic greeting from the 200 or so assembled fans was team captain Paolo Maldini, who was celebrating his 32nd birthday.
As he says himself, blowing out the birthday cake candles during a major football tournament is normal for Maldini. It happens every other year. It is the price he pays for being Italian, being one of the greatest defenders in the world and having a birthday in late June.
Yesterday, however, Maldini was the focus of Italian attention for reasons other than his birth date. For a start, there is that nagging left thigh muscle strain which forced him to come off at half-time during Saturday's 2-0 quarter-final win against Romania.
As Italy prepare for Thursday's semi-final clash with the Netherlands in Amsterdam, the last player that coach Dino Zoff wants to lose now is his experienced, charismatic and still magnificently talented captain. For the time being, Maldini is hopeful that he will recover in time, but a doubt must remain about a problem that was already worrying him during the warm-up before Saturday's game.
Looking forward to the semi-final with the Netherlands, Maldini admits to having been more than a little struck by the Dutch 6-1 demolition job of Yugoslavia in Rotterdam on Sunday.
"This is a team that really creates a lot; yesterday they must have set up 15 goal-scoring chances. On top of that, The Netherlands are a side that have improved since the beginning of the tournament." Maldini may admit to having plenty of respect for the Dutch side, but he betrays a quiet sense of Italian confidence when asked how exactly one should set about counteracting the Netherlands.
"We'll have to be very concentrated, very attentive and make sure that we don't concede any space to their front line. Mind you, Italy are past masters at this."
The latter observation is accompanied with a mischievous smile. The impression is that Maldini and friends do not believe theirs to be a lost cause in Amsterdam.
The game will inevitably prompt the "clash of two football schools" cliche, as the most prolific attack comes up against arguably the best defence. Maldini clearly feels it is by no means certain the most prolific attack will have the better of the exchanges.
"Yes, yes, you can call it a clash between two schools of football, even if you have to say that, until now, the Italian school has been the winning one." Strictly speaking, this is not true, since the last time that the Netherlands and Italy met in the finals stage of a major tournament came way back in Argentina 1978, when the Dutch ran out 2-1 winners of a memorable semi-final in which the winning goal was an unforgettable 45-yard effort form Aarie Haan. In goal that day for Italy was the current coach, Zoff.
When it comes to assessing the Netherlands, recent AC Milan history springs naturally to mind. After all, Maldini shared many European and Italian league triumphs with one key figure in the current Dutch set-up, namely coach Frank Rijkaard.
"It's strange to see Rijkaard as a coach. He was always such a reserved player, everything was okay by him, all he wanted to do was play. He didn't talk much on the pitch but he gave everything.
"Yet he seems to have acted as the player-manager at Ajax, where he was a great guide for the young players, and now I see that his relations with his players are very warm, very good. As a coach, he represents a nice surprise."
