Italy’s Euro 2020 throws up a number of points of reflection, especially when it comes to the Maltese footballing landscape.

The Azzuri’s triumph came after a ground-up rebuild: with Roberto Mancini raising a country from the footballing doldrums after it failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup – something described in Italy not as a disaster, but as an apocalypse.

Fast forward three years, and Mancini presented a youthful and exuberant squad with a completely changed playing style which favours fluid attacking moves and a dynamic midfield over the stodginess of the styles adopted by Mancini’s predecessors.

That paid dividends when Italy triumphed over England on Sunday night.

Of course, one cannot compare these achievements directly to the Maltese footballing landscape.  Malta is nowhere near being at the heights of winning any form of major tournament, but the progress that has been made in the past 18 months or so has similar hallmarks to the philosophies used in rebuilding the Italian squad.

Maltese football has for many years been known to be overtly defensive and negative in its play, with all form of attacking prowess relying on lobbing long balls forward to a nippy forward – generally Michael Mifsud – to run after in the hope that he can connect with one and score.

The appointment of Devis Mangia has seen the start of a footballing transformation: one which, much like the Azzuri, has seen younger players given more space in the team and which has seen the football itself become more positive.

The results have started to come: Malta went on a seven match unbeaten run, and made much stronger teams – like Russia and Slovakia, who both featured in the Euros – struggle, even registering a 2-2 draw to Slovakia after going 2-0 up.

The movement of more and more young players abroad – Alex Satariano for instance signed with Serie B side Frosinone, while Kyrian Nwoko is set to sign with Northern Irish champions Linfield – will only help raise the standard of the national team.

So the progress is definitely there – and it does seem to be in line with the same principles that Italy have followed in their own rebuilding process.

Another element of Sunday’s Euro triumph was the sheer outpouring of celebration by Maltese who support Italy.  Many, rightly, find it verging on the slightly silly that such fanaticism which is shown towards the national team of a foreign country is not extended to Malta’s own national team.

It is a pity – that’s for sure: but then again, the people have the desire to be entertained, and the lack of entertainment or ambition on offer by the Maltese national team in recent years is no doubt a factor in the decreasing attendances for matches.

However, the people have good reason to get behind the current national team and its players.

Malta won’t be making the group stages of any major tournaments in the short term: but the building blocks are there, and the formation of the UEFA Nations League suddenly makes such a feat more reachable.

If the current progress continues, maybe who knows sometime in the not overly distant future, the country will be able to glue itself to a television set in support of itself, rather than of someone else.