Euro 2024: Underdogs Albania ready to take on top guns Italy, Spain, Croatia

Outsiders Albania could hardly have asked for a tougher group at Euro 2024, but they plan to rely on "soul" and "sacrifice" when they go head to head with Italy, Spain and Croatia at the tournament in Germany.

"They are very strong teams, used to being favourites, prepared to go to the final and win" said Albania's coach Sylvinho, the Brazilian former Arsenal and Barcelona full-back.

Sylvinho, who previously had spells at Lyon and Corinthians, takes huge credit for leading the Balkan country into their second appearance at the European Championship after being appointed as coach at the beginning of last year.

His squad lacks superstars but there are players who ply their trade in major European leagues, led by Berat Djimsiti, the defender who has just helped Atalanta win the Europa League.

There is also the striker Armando Broja, who has just been on loan at Fulham from Chelsea, the Lazio full-back Elseid Hysaj and Inter Milan midfielder Kristjan Asllani.

"Our strength is not one footballer or two. Our strength is the team," Sylvinho, now aged 50, told AFP.

"Albania is a young country which is participating for the second time in such an important tournament," he added, saying the team possessed a lot of "heart, soul, and a sense of sacrifice".

"We have worked hard to achieve this state of mind on the pitch," added Sylvinho as he leads the country back to a competition they first graced in 2016.

"We have done a good job together but a big challenge awaits us," said the coach, who obtained Albanian nationality after helping secure the country's place at Euro 2024.

Sylvinho's dedication to the squad has led him and his staff -- including ex-Argentina defender Pablo Zabaleta -- to relocate full-time to the Albanian capital Tirana.

"We are the first technical team to do so, and it makes a big difference," he explained.

"The players look at you and say 'you have a family, a wife, a child, but you don't live with them, you live in Tirana'. People call me and ask me 'where are you?', I answer: 'in Tirana'," added the man who replaced the Italian Edoardo Reja as coach.

"When we do a job, we do it well, that's the message that gets across. That's how I see it, I have to be here, work from here. Someone says 'he's a foreigner but he lives here, he's already Albanian'. I am an Albanian citizen."

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