A new chapter of Marcello Lippi's career is beginning in a familiar place, the Tuscan manager returned to China to manage the national team. Lippi talked about his new job as well as the Azzurri in an interview to Corriere dello Sport:"It's a strange sensation, energizing, beautiful and full. At the age of 68 I feel like I'm 34 again, like when I started coaching. I started doing same things I did back then. I was never able to work at night or in the evening, I wake up at 6am and I get ready for practice. We'll be able to play adequate football, the qualification to the World Cup is compromised but not impossible. I have a group of good players that when they arrive on national team lose 40% of their performance"
Lippi was asked about the role of technical director he was supposed to have with the Italian national team and his relationship with Ventura:"We were together for almost two months last spring, we saw each other a lot and talked about a collaboration without overlaps. He knew he could have counted on me, I would have made my experience available without interfering. A nice collaboration between two friends who found themselves working on same challenge was developing. Then it went the way it did. The feeling is he's building something significant. Giampiero has an advantage compared to the past: it was awhile since we had a generation of players this interesting
