For Italians, looking the part is just as important as playing like champions, and the UEFA Final was an opportunity to put away our pandemic fashions of slippers and elasticized pants. . .

In 2016, Alessandro Verratti and Matteo Murone returned home from Genova, crushed, thinking all hope was lost. 'I didn't want to do anything but play soccer,' Alessandro says, 'I couldn't accept that it was over.'