Coach Conte helps Italy close gap in class to Germany

PARIS (AP) - The gap in class that recently seemed so great between Germany and Italy is not so big now.

In fact, it might have closed completely when the two old rivals meet Saturday in a European Championship quarterfinal.

Italy's standout performances at Euro 2016 - a pair of 2-0 wins to end Spain's reign on Monday and unsettle Belgium in their opening match - rank high among the tournament's best.

They also repaired much of the damage done in March when Germany easily beat Italy 4-1 in a friendly.

"Perhaps the score-line was a bit harsh on us," Italy coach Antonio Conte said as he looked ahead to a German reunion on Saturday. "But I remember our self-confidence, our faith in us, really dropped a great deal after that fixture."

"Now, we are trying to win back that confidence, that self-belief," the Azzurri coach said through a translator.

Three months ago, Conte said after the rout in Munich that he chose the World Cup winner as an opponent to "measure the gap between us and Germany."

It was the last game before Conte named a tournament squad that was branded by national media one of the worst to leave Italy for a major tournament.

Missing injured midfielders Claudio Marchisio and Marco Verratti, Conte has not disguised why hopes were so low.

"There's no hiding the fact it's not the rosiest period in Italy for football talent," he said, before praising the unity and strengths of his 23-man squad once again. "The only route forward we could have to achieve a semblance of success is to try and be a club."

Conte's mastery of management is clearly a big reason for Italy outperforming those limited expectations.

So when he praises Germany as "the best side in the European Championship," it sounds like a clever mix of honesty and pre-match mind games.

"I think Germany are a cut above the rest. I've got no problem stating that," Conte said. "We will need a titanic effort against Germany from every perspective. We might even need something absolutely extraordinary because extraordinary on its own might not be enough."

Playing Spain in the round of 16, however, was also meant to be a test beyond Italy's ability.

"We know that when the going gets tough, we do tend to respond," said Conte, who can still rely on a veteran defensive line of rare vintage that he once picked at his former club Juventus.

For his next challenge in Bordeaux on Saturday, he wants to ensure his team approaches the 2014 World Cup winner without feeling satisfied at simply ousting the 2010 champion Spain.

"It must not really quench our thirst for victories, our thirst to amaze people, our thirst to get people talking," Conte said