Euro 2024 begins in less than a month now and will take place between June 14 and July 14 in Germany. Absent at the World Cup in 2022 but defending champion of the last European Championship, Italy intends to send a message to the competition after once again being the laughing stock of European football by missing the plane to Qatar, after having already missed the boat in 2018 for the world championship in Russia. But since the last trophy of the Nazionale, gleaned in the final against England in the summer of 2021, water has flowed under the Italian bridges and several changes have been made.
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Indeed, the biggest revolution comes from the technical staff. With the surprise departure of Roberto Mancini to take charge of Saudi Arabia, the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) began looking for a new leader less than a year before the start of the season. Euro 2024. By mutual agreement, Luciano Spalletti, who had just been the major architect of a historic Scudetto with Napoli, cut short his promised sabbatical year to take the reins of a national mission. With a checkered end to the qualifying phase, the Squadra Azzurra ended up pocketing a ticket on the wire thanks to a victory against North Macedonia then a draw against Ukraine.
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A rejuvenated defense
A few weeks before the start of the Euro, Luciano Spalletti revealed his list of 30 Italian internationals selected to wear the colors of the Azzurri in Germany. With three major absences, Destiny Udogie, Nicolo Zaniolo and Domenico Berardi, Italy had to review its plans, particularly on the offensive lines. Luciano Spalletti will nevertheless be able to count on the great form of Gianluca Scamacca and the natural leadership of Federico Chiesa, hero already present in 2021. The other executives Nicolo Barella, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Federico Dimarco and even Giovanni Di Lorenzo will be on the trip. From this list, the Italian coach will have to remove four players before the deadline set by UEFA of June 7.
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With the retirement of Giorgio Chiellini and the mixed end to the career of Leonardo Bonucci, the Italian defense has considerably rejuvenated in recent months with the emergence of the two youngsters Giorgio Scalvini and Alessandro Buongiorno. On the piston wings, we should note the summons of other novices Riccardo Calafiori, Raoul Bellanova and Andrea Cambiaso. A team far from being bad on paper even if the presence of Fagioli after 7 months of suspension, and preferred to Locatelli, may be surprising. Marco Verratti is not called up either, nor is Ciro Immobile. Now see the system used by Spalletti which alternates between a 4-3-3 and a 3-4-2-1.
Italy’s full Euro 2024 roster (four players to be removed):
Guardians: Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG), Guglielmo Vicario (Tottenham), Alex Meret (Napoli), Ivan Provedel (Lazio)
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Defenders: Matteo Darmian (Inter), Giorgio Scalvini (Atalanta), Francesco Acerbi (Inter), Alessandro Buongiorno (Turin), Riccardo Calafiori (Bologna), Gianluca Mancini (AS Roma), Raoul Bellanova (Turin), Andrea Cambiaso (Juventus), Federico Dimarco (Inter), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Alessandro Bastoni (Inter)
Environments : Jorginho (Arsenal), Bryan Cristante (AS Roma), Nicolo Barella (Inter), Davide Frattesi (Inter), Nicolò Fagioli
(Juventus), Lorenzo Pellegrini (AS Roma), Michael Folorunsho (Hellas), Samuele Ricci (Turin)
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Attackers: Gianluca Scamacca (Atalanta), Matteo Retegui (Genoa), Giacomo Raspadori (Napoli), Federico Chiesa (Juventus), Mattia Zaccagni (Lazio), Riccardo Orsolini (Bologna), Stephan El Shaarawy (AS Roma)
Pub. 05/23/2024 3:38 p.m. Updated 05/23/2024 5:04 p.m.
2024-05-23 13:38:55
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