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Old stager Panucci aiming to thwart Spain

Italy's Christian Panucci, right, kicks the ball as Luca Toni looks on during a training session in Maria Enzersdorf, Austria, on Friday. Italy will play Spain in the quarter-finals of Euro 2008 in Vienna today. PHOTO: AP

With World Cup winning veteran central defenders Fabio Cannavaro and Marco Materazzi either out injured or out of favor, it has fallen to another old stager, Christian Panucci, to marshal the defense in today's Euro 2008 quarter-final against Spain.

The 35-year-old has an even greater incentive to deliver only Italy’s second European title, as he was not part of the World Cup winning squad, having failed to find favor with then coach Marcello Lippi, who he had not got on with when at Inter Milan.

However, it maybe does not matter as much to the defender with 56 caps — who may have only scored four goals, but two have been crucial — one earning them an injury-time win over Scotland which got them to the finals and the other the draw with Romania which garnered a point here.

He cheated death in 1996 on returning early from the Olympics after picking up an injury. He decided in a twist of fate to switch flights — his original flight crashed into the Atlantic Ocean.

Despite his age, the former AC Milan, Real Madrid, Monaco and now AS Roma defender — who earned a recall once his former AC Milan teammate Roberto Donadoni replaced Lippi as coach of the Azzurri — is clearly up for what will more than likely be his last chance at the big national team trophies.

“In my 18 year career, I have never had major injury problems,” Panucci said. “And then there is the incentive of playing in a Euro quarter-final and that overrides any type of tiredness. And it is even more true of myself, because it is likely to be my last major international occasion.”

It is fair to say that Panucci has not let his country down here — inadvertently blamed for the Dutch first goal in the 3-0 Group C defeat when he was lying off the pitch injured, but the referee ruled him as playing Ruud van Nistelrooy on side — he has teamed up with the youngest member of the squad, 23-year-old Giorgio Chiellini, in the center of defense to only concede one in the last two matches.

The duo have impressed since replacing Materazzi — whose frailties and age were exposed by the Dutch — and Andrea Barzagli, who was also dropped and has since been ruled out with a left knee injury, even though quite apart from a generation in terms of age separating them they hardly knew each other.

“We talk a lot, myself and Giorgio,” Panucci said. “We don’t know each other very well, notably in our movements, but that allows us to change around a lot. In any case, I can assure you that he [Chiellini] will be one of the best central defenders in the world. He has everything.”

Panucci, who has twice won the Champions League, first with AC Milan and then Real Madrid in 1994 and 1998 respectively, said that he had no worries over his fitness levels despite his age.

“In the tests we carry out every morning in training, I am one of those who recuperate the quickest,” Panucci said. “Perhaps it is also because where I play, it means I expend less energy than the others.”

Panucci, though, has no doubts that his nascent partnership with Chiellini will have enough quality to see off the imposing striking partnership of David Villa, who has four goals so far, and Fernando Torres, who has just one.

“How are we going to stop them? Like we went about stopping two other very good players, [Thierry] Henry and [Karim] Benzema,” said Panucci, referring to their final Group C game which Italy won 2-0.

As for the future, dare he when he is in such good form now dream of even going as far as the 2010 World Cup?

“It would not be intelligent on my part,” he said. “At 37 years old my legs may be worn out.”
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