With new coach Spalletti: Italy wins against Ukraine

The Italian national team has not had a good experience with play-offs in the recent past. The 2018 World Cup was missed after botched playoffs against Sweden, and the Squadra Azzurra didn’t even travel to the 2022 World Cup either. North Macedonia showed the Italians their limits in two games.

The thought of having to prove themselves again in the play-offs to take part in the 2024 European Championship makes Italian footballers’ legs shake. Italy, remember, is the current European champion. Hell, heaven and back again is how you can describe the Italians’ last three tournament experiences. And finally there was a lot going on again.

“Today we have to be happy”

Italy’s 2-1 win against Ukraine on Tuesday evening in the European Championship qualifiers therefore had the effect of a pack of sedatives. “We still have our backs to the wall, but we are alive,” the Corriere della Sera summarized realistically. After the game in front of 58,000 spectators at Milan’s Giuseppe Meazza Stadium, coach Luciano Spalletti described any criticism of his team’s performance as “picky”.

From champion to association: Italy’s new coach Luciano Spalletti. : Image: EPA

“We have to be happy today,” demanded the 64-year-old, who only took over the national team three weeks ago. His predecessor Roberto Mancini, who was responsible for winning the European Championships but also missing the World Cup in Qatar, was poached as Saudi Arabia’s national coach in August for an estimated annual salary of around 30 million euros. It was a shock for the battered football country.

In Spalletti’s first game as “Commissario Tecnico” on Saturday against North Macedonia (1-1), the Azzurri continued their recent shaky games, which is why the following game against Ukraine was given the greatest importance. Spalletti changed his starting eleven to five positions and replaced center forward Ciro Immobile (Lazio) with the agile Giacomo Raspadori (SSC Napoli). It tore holes in the penalty area into which the midfielders could repeatedly advance.

Open

Numbers, data, facts: That was the long transfer summer of 2023 Image: EPA

The two goals for the Italians were scored by 23-year-old midfielder Davide Frattesi (12th and 29th minutes). Frattesi, who moved from Sassuolo Calcio to Inter Milan in the summer and was the most sought-after player in Italy, could join the ranks of Italian players who first found happiness in the national team and then in their clubs. The guard of the now fallen European Championship heroes around Marco Verratti, Jorginho and Federico Chiesa, who were not called up this time, sends their regards.

Equal points with Ukraine and North Macedonia

Spalletti faces a similar dilemma to his predecessor. In Serie A and abroad, few Italian players are pushing for the national team. A lot therefore depends on the coach, his playing philosophy and the art of motivation. In this regard, Spalletti seems to be the right person. In both games, Italy already showed the impressive offensive style of its coach, who coached SSC Napoli to the championship last season after 33 years, but threw in the towel after differences with owner Aurelio De Laurentiis.

In the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium, the team played the best offensive football for a good half hour before Ukraine scored the next goal with Andrei Jarmolenko (41st minute). The team collapsed in the second half against North Macedonia. Spalletti’s team created numerous more chances against Ukraine after halftime.

With one game less, Italy is now in second place behind England in Group C, level on points with Ukraine and North Macedonia. Spalletti’s team has it in their own hands to finish the qualification in second place and thus qualify directly for the European Championships. For Davide Frattesi, the Milan evening could have an unexpected side effect.

Published/Updated: Recommendations: 5 Published/Updated: Recommendations: 2 Published/Updated: Recommendations: 3

Inter coach Simone Inzaghi has never used him from the start of the game. The Milan duel is on Saturday, Inter in first place against second-placed AC Milan. After his performance on Tuesday evening, it is hardly imaginable that the derby will take place without Frattesi in the starting line-up.