The Italian press hailed the national side's 1-1 draw with Spain in their Group C opener, seeing their performance as a welcome tonic to previous poor showings and also to unsavoury match-fixing allegations.
"Italy have arrived," wrote both the Gazzetta dello sport and Repubblica.
The Gazzetta assessed that Italy were a match for La Roja, while "Italy were lively, in tune, never afraid," was the repubblica.it verdict.
The Corriere dello Sport praised a "beautiful Italy" while "Tuttosport" breathed a sigh of relief that "after weeks of stormclouds, scandals and assassination by the media and politicians, the 'Nazionale' showed on the pitch all their pride and enthusiasm that we thought had disappeared".
Source: AFP
