The team structure is stable: Giacomo Raspadori and the Squadra Azzurra feel ready for new exploits. Image: AFP
Battle of the console: By qualifying for the European Football Championship in Germany, Italy’s national coach Luciano Spalletti has achieved the minimum goal. He sets strict rules for the hoped-for success in the finals.
Luciano Spalletti has been the coach of the Italian national football team for almost seven months. During the time of his predecessor Roberto Mancini, between May 2018 and August 2023, heaven and hell were always close together: winning the title at the 2021 European Championship was followed the following year by the disgrace of missing the final round of a World Cup for the second time in a row after 2018 . With the 65-year-old Spalletti, most recently a spectacular champion with SSC Napoli, consistency and stability should return. And of course success at major tournaments.
Matthias Rüb
Political correspondent for Italy, the Vatican, Albania and Malta based in Rome.
The minimum goal under the new “commissario tecnico” was achieved on November 20th in Leverkusen: with a goalless draw against Ukraine, direct qualification for the European Championship finals in Germany was achieved. Italy is traveling there as title holders, and Spalletti has set no less than the successful defense of this title as his goal.
