Scottish newspaper The National will give life membership to Mancini and Italian players

On Saturday morning, hours before the final of the European Championships between Italy and England, the Scottish newspaper (and The Independent) national came out on newsstands with A photo of Roberto Mancini on the cover. Nothing particularly strange or historical, except that the coach of the Italian national team was Fraud (digitally) as Mel Gibson / William Wallace in the film Braveheart – Heart fearless – Which tells the story of a Scottish leader and patriot who, in the 13th century, inspired his compatriots to revolt against British occupation. In addition to the rectified photo, there was also a headline that did not acknowledge the misunderstanding: “Save us Roberto, you are our last hope. We can’t take another 55 years of them banging about this”, literally. “Save us Roberto, you are our last hope. We couldn’t stand it if they continued to suffer for another 55 years.”

Obviously it was a choice with different meanings: in the many editorials and articles published these days – including this, signed by Italian-born journalist Tony Giugliano – the Scottish newspaper explained that “it cannot support Scotland’s biggest football rivals”; There is a political component behind this as well. national It defined itself as “the only independent newspaper in Scotland”, and therefore mandated that it would take sides against the English national team, which was a direct emigration of the Government of London. In an article Published a few hours after this first page was released, then, national He outlined how the declared support for Italy was “an expression of popular orientation: a survey showed that 83% of Scots would be happy for Azzurri before and during the European final”.

All went well, for Italy and therefore also for Scotland, so what? national Azurri’s success and his support campaign. Which went beyond the simple publication of a front page: at a pre-match press conference, Mancini said that his photo was “beautiful” with Wallace’s features, that “it made him smile”; In addition, the coach of the national team was photographed at Wembley with the cup won and with a copy of it national During the flight to Rome. At this point, the Scottish newspaper decided to actively express its gratitude to the new Italian “brothers”, beginning with Mancini himself: in an article Released on July 12, Stewart Ward announced that “national He is ready to give Mancini and his players a lifetime subscription: we are happy to motivate them right before the match against England, they need to send us an email every day to get a copy of the newspaper ».