Zaccagni goes into a full Del Piero mode as Azzurri recreate 2006 magic

It's almost tragic to witness the downfall of Italy in terms of the quality of their national football team. Despite the fact they're the current European champions, for decades, Gli Azzurri had had some sensational players with an almost unique set of skills, both offensively and defensively.

Just check out that 2006 World Cup-winning squad, which included - among others - Totti, Del Piero, Pirlo, Inzaghi, De Rossi, Canavaro, Buffon etc.

Today's team is not a pale shadow of that side, but last night's climatic draw against Croatia at least recreated some of that old Italian magic. Mattia Zaccagni's last-gasp equalizer reminded us so much of Alessandro Del Piero's goal from the 2006 WC semi-final against Germany in Dortmund.

The legendary forward netted from almost the same spot as Zaccagni last night, in pretty much the same fashion, to make it (also) 2-0 late in the second extra time, just two minutes after Fabio Grosso put them in front.

Interestingly enough, both of those goals (Zaccagni's and Del Piero's) provided the Italians with a ticket to Berlin and the mythical Olympic stadium.

Almost two decades ago, it was for the World Cup finals against France (and another larger-than-life game), and now it's for the European Championship 1/8 finals, where they'll meet Switzerland.

Magicians are long gone, but Italy still has magic and passion.

EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP - GROUP STAGE

Monday

Albania - Spain 0-1 (0-1)

/Torres 13/

Croatia - Italy 1-1 0-0)

/Modric 55 - Zaccagni 90+8/

Tuesday

19.00: (2.30) Netherlands (3.45) Austria (3.30)

19.00: (1.33) France (5.70) Poland (10.5)

22.00: (1.42) England (4.70) Slovenia (9.00)

22.00: (2.30) Denmark (3.45) Serbia (3.50)

Wednesday

19.00: (3.30) Slovakia (2.05) Romania (3.85)

19.00: (5.60) Ukraine (3.90) Belgium (1.70)

22.00: (7.80) Georgia (5.20) Portugal (1.43)

22.00: (2.65) Czech R. (3.40) Turkey (2.80)

***odds are subject to change***