Graziano Pellè’s toes have been stepped on before. His parents Roberto and Doriana were keen ballroom dancers. They used to hit the floor at the Colelli dance hall in Porto Cesareo. It caught the imagination of Pellè’s older sister Fabiana. She wanted to give it a go. The only hitch was Fabiana needed a partner. Graziano obliged.
He’d finish football training with Copertino, get changed in the car, and prepare to go through his steps. At 11, Graziano and Fabiana won Italy’s latin dance title. “My experiences as a dancer helped me,” Pellè told La Gazzetta dello Sport. “Especially in terms of coordination. The waltz, cha cha cha, the tango, I danced them all. Actually, you know what I could do? Strictly Come Dancing. I would pretend not to have a clue and then wow them all.”
Pellè has been hobbling around Italy’s Montpellier training base these last couple of days. Some of Belgium’s defenders must have two left feet. Rather clumsily, one of them stamped on Pellè on Monday night and there were fears he had broken a metatarsal. Italy’s first game of the tournament threatened to be his last dance.
Fortunately, a scan revealed there to be no damage, only severe bruising, which is a relief for Antonio Conte. He has entrusted Pellè with the No.9 shirt and been rewarded. No one had ever called him up before. He was overlooked by Cesare Prandelli.
The 55 goals he scored for Feyenoord in the Eredivisie were viewed with scepticism. Pellè had returned from Holland to give Serie A another go after a spell at AZ Alkmaar and flopped. The Eredivisie was considered inferior and all his achievements were taken with a pinch of salt. Until Conte replaced Prandelli and Pellè moved to the Premier League where he has managed to get into double figures in each of his two seasons at Southampton.
At 29, Pellè belatedly made his debut for Italy and scored on it too. He is their top scorer under Conte. His beautifully taken goal against Belgium was his sixth for his country. Much of the focus was on Italy’s organisation without the ball on Monday night and understandably so. They have kept three clean sheets in a row for the first time in three years and the latest one against Belgium was their 17th at the Euros, a tournament record.
Romelu Lukaku was limited to only 17 touches in the first half. Leonardo Bonucci was Italy’s Man of the Match, but as he admitted afterwards, much of the in-house analysis they would do after the match would concentrate on what they did “less well.” Italy allowed 18 shots, the most since Conte took over the helm.
What was better than expected was how Italy attacked. Of course, the absence of Marco Verratti, Claudio Marchisio and Andrea Pirlo was still felt. Italy’s passing accuracy was only 76.7% and shortcomings in technique were at times evident in how moves broke down often because the final pass wasn’t precise enough. Still, they had no problem finding Pellè. Five of Italy’s 12 attempts on goal were from him. He should have finished with more than one goal, missing what for him was a straightforward header.
It was all quite reassuring. There was great concern ahead of the tournament about Italy’s forward line and its lack of goals. The five strikers Conte has selected for the Euros travelled to France with 11 international goals between them. Pellè’s form in the winter and early spring had been a concern for Italy. He went 13 games without a goal for Southampton.
It was a relief then for Conte to see him finish the campaign with aplomb. Pellè was involved in nine goals in his last seven Premier League games [five goals, four assists]. It boded well for this tournament. More than just a finisher, as that last stat suggests, Pellè’s all-round play is one of the reasons Conte values him so highly. He isn’t only able to bring crosses out of the sky, but more importantly for Conte the straight vertical pass that his teams are all about.
La Gazzetta likened Pellè to tree that Italy could lean on and get a breather. An Ent that bore fruit. Not only the goal, but three key passes. Zlatan Ibrahimovic has taken up nearly all the headlines ahead of Italy’s game against Sweden in Toulouse. But as one of the few centre-forwards to have affected a game in the tournament so far, maybe the spotlight should be on Pellè instead.
At a time when Pelé the movie is in cinemas, fans in Italy have amusingly Photoshopped the poster. The Brazil striker has been cut out and replaced by his namesake in a Southampton shirt. The tagline remains the same: Birth of a Legend and while very much tongue in cheek, it does express a hope that this could be the beginning of something.
How far can Italy go at Euro 2016 with Pellè leading the line? Let us know in the comments below
