The Azzurri trained at Coverciano this morning before they head to Venice later today. Italy then fly from Venice Airport - who are partners of the National Team - to Gdansk tomorrow for their Nations League game against Poland (20:45 CEST).

After having missed September’s games through injury and not being used by Mancini in Wednesday friendly against Moldova, Marco Verratti could make a long awaited return to the Italy side at the Energa Arena. “Poland have some great individuals,” Verratti said in a press conference today. “It’ll be a tough game, but we know our own strengths and that we can cause them problems.”

Italy are hoping to extend their 18 game unbeaten run. “The unbeaten run gives us confidence,” stated the midfielder, “it’s not a weight on our shoulders. It’ll give us the push we need to continue down this road. Mancini has brought us a lot of enthusiasm. He’s done well to rebuild and get us playing well, and we’re feeling good too. Until now, we’ve been in great form. We need to continue on this path.” As far as the situation surrounding COVID-19 is concerned, thousands of positive cases are emerging each day, some of which are of players: “It’s a tough time for us all, for us players and everybody else. We need to take care and make sacrifices. We’re lucky, because we get tested often and we know straight away if there’s a problem. We need to do our jobs well and bring a smile to the faces of fans that can’t be in the stadium. The pandemic forces us to take precautions, avoid parties, reduce the number of times we go out and think about our children. We need to be responsible; this is an appeal to young people to think about their families’ health.”

On rivalry for places in midfield: “It’s an important part of the pitch. I’m happy that we have so many good players. He was then asked about what it took for him to forget the Champions League final, to which he responded: “Winning the Euros would be a dream.” In the transfer window, which recently closed, two more Azzurri joined PSG, Alessandro Florenzi and Moise Kean: “I’m happy they joined. I’m really close with Alessandro and I’m happy to be playing with him. Moise needs to take another step to become an even stronger player.”

Click here for press guidelines (Italian).

Schedule

Friday 9 October

10:30 CEST – Training (behind closed doors)** at Coverciano

13:30 CEST – Media duties (player) in the auditorium at Coverciano

17:30 CEST – Travel from Florence to Venice

Saturday 10 October

10:45 CEST – Travel from Venice to Gdansk

11:00 CEST – POLAND training (open for the first 15 mins) at the Energa Arena in Gdansk

13:15 CEST – POLAND press conference at the Energa Arena in Gdansk

17:30 – ITALY press conference at the Energa Arena in Gdansk

18:00 CEST – ITALY training (open for the first 15 mins) at the Energa Arena in Gdansk

Sunday 11 October

20:45 CEST – POLAND VS. ITALY (UNL matchday 3) at the Energa Arena in Gdansk

Press conference following the game

Monday 12 October

11:00 CEST – Training (behind closed doors) in Gdansk

17:45 CEST – Travel from Gdansk to Bergamo

Tuesday 13 October

16:30 CEST – NETHERLANDS press conference*** at the Stadio di Bergamo

17:00 CEST – NETHERLANDS training (open for the first 15 mins) at the Stadio di Bergamo

17:30 CEST – ITALY press conference*** at the Stadio di Bergamo

18:00 CEST – ITALY TRAINING (open for the first 15 mins) at the Stadio di Bergamo

Wednesday 14 October

20:45 CEST – ITALY V NETHERLANDS (UNL matchday 4) at the Stadio di Bergamo

Press conference following the game

* images from the event will distributed by the FIGC after it has finished

** 15 minutes of images will be produced and distributed by the FIGC

*** access to the press room will be limited to a reduced number of media members, feeds are available on screens at the stadium.