(by Valentina Brini) -
Football has its reasons that politics does not know. But this time it's different. While London and Brussels are still fighting over Brexit, on Sunday Roberto Mancini's Azzurri will descend on the Wembley lawn symbolically invested with the responsibility of leading the recovery of the whole of Europe in the first year of the divorce.
And, having reached the final certainly not as an 'underdog' but not even as favorites like the English Lions, they will be driven by the cheering of the whole capital of the European institutions. Where, patriotism and moral dilemmas aside, in these hours we openly take sides in the undisguised hope of a 'revenge' that goes well beyond the confines of the pitch. So much so that most, in a singular movement of love towards Italy,they even pull the heart out of the way.
The president of the European Commission,
Ursula von der Leyen
,
"is with the blue team"
, the spokesman of the EU executive, the Frenchman
Eric Mamer
,
revealed to journalists
, with the slightly pleased smile of those who still remember the endless negotiations well and the broadsides came straight from Downing Street. Attacks that also Mamer's predecessor, the Greek
Margaritis Schinas
, now EU vice president responsible for the European lifestyle, has had the task of shielding for years, especially since that inauspicious June 23 referendum in 2016. And so today he dreams of taking an emblematic revenge and shouting his support on Twitter. for the Azzurri with the famous lines by Raffaella Carrà: "It explodes, it explodes, my heart explodes". A feeling that, after resolving some internal conflicts, also shared by the president of the European Council and the former coordinator of the EU Parliament for Brexit,
Charles Michel
and
Guy Verhofstadt
, who as Belgians (both former premier and liberals) admit they have "some moral problems" in supporting a team that got the better of their Diables Rouges in the quarter-finals, and still care about "keeping politics and football separate ", but" in the end "they win" the Italian side of the heart by "cheering" strongly "for Italy.
In addition to the most extreme proclamations, the same sentiment runs from door to door in all institutional environments.
After watching the histrionic Boris Johnson cheer live in the stands for winning the final in extra time against his Denmark, the EU vice president
Margrethe Vestager
will also be closer to the Italian national team, while the closest collaborators of the commissioner for the internal market ,
Thierry Breton
, make it known that they are experiencing an unusual drama: their French cheering is all for Italy but on Sunday evening, returning from the mission in Senegal - where the EU has finalized the agreement to build a first vaccination hub in Africa -, at Kick-off of Wembley will be on the plane. Those who certainly will not lose the game for the world will instead be the Commissioner for the Economy,
Paolo Gentiloni
, and the President of the EU Parliament,
David Sassoli
, who will see the challenge one in Brussels and the other in Italy.
With the hope that - by borrowing a famous Monty Python sketch that appeared today on the cover of the British tabloid Daily Star - among the things that the Romans will be able to say they have done for England from Monday there will also be explaining to them on behalf of all that yes, as they have repeatedly reiterated, 'Brexit means Brexit'.
So in politics, as in football.