The Azzurri face Germany in a friendly, so Mina Rzouki tells us where it all went wrong for Antonio Conte’s side in Euro 2016.

“Football is a simple game, explained Gary Lineker. “22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans always win.” Lineker had a point except he failed to mention the one caveat: Germany always win unless they come across the Italians.

Eight times Die Mannschaft took on La Nazionale in a competitive fixture and eight times they lost. Italy were Germany’s bogey team, their bête noire, their bestia nera.

The Azzurri are the perennially underestimated team. Despite winning the World Cup on four occasions, few ever truly consider Italy as the team to beat in a competition.

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