Italy coach Cesare Prandelli takes 21km walk to monastery at 3am

It’s getting to the stage of Euro 2012 where people are starting to tire and conserving energy becomes vital. But not for Italy boss Cesare Prandelli.

He celebrated his side’s qualification to the knockout stages by taking a 3am hike to a monastery.

Prandelli was eager to visit the Camaldolese monks, originally from Italy but now based at a monastery outside Krakow. The Italian party had met the monks before the tournament and the coaching staff vowed to return if they qualified from Group C.

And they were good to their word.

At 3am, shortly after arriving back in Krakow after their win over the Republic of Ireland in Poznan, Prandelli, his staff and federation vice president Demetrio Albertini immediately set off on the pilgrimage.

The federation released a statement saying the group “had to deal with the jokes of the players… who went off to bed” before completing the three-and-a-half hour walk.

They returned to the team base at 7am by car. Cheats.