After last night’s win against Poland, Italy returned to Coverciano, where they will train this afternoon ahead of their last Nations League group game, against Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday (20:45 CET) in Sarajevo. This fixture is balanced on a knife’s edge as the Azzurri could book their ticket to the Final Four, which will be played in Milan and Turin in October 2021. Should the Netherlands fail to win in Poland, a draw would be enough. If the two sides draw, then Italy could lose on Wednesday and still go through.

Italy deserved applause for their performance in Reggio Emilia, which saw them stretch their unbeaten run to 21 games (16 wins and five draws), and they will surely have received it from the 6,629,000 spectators, who tuned in to watch the game on television. Roberto Mancini’s side, who deservedly are the top seeds for the 2022 World Cup qualifying draw, are now called upon to negotiate the final hurdle to get to the Final Four of the Nations League.

Tomorrow morning, the team will leave Coverciano for Sarajevo and will train in the afternoon at the Stadion Grbavica in the Bosnian capital. Italy have played Bosnia and Herzegovina four times (two wins, one draw and one defeat), doing the double over the Balkan nation in EURO 2020 qualifying (21- in Turin and 3-0 in Zenica). The two sides drew 1-1 when they met two months ago in Florence. The only defeat (2-1) was in a friendly in November 1996 in Sarajevo, with Arrigo Sacchi resigning from his position as Italy head coach just weeks after that defeat.

Squad list:

Goalkeepers: Alessio Cragno (Cagliari), Gianluigi Donnarumma (Milan), Alex Meret (Napoli), Salvatore Sirigu (Torino);
Defenders: Francesco Acerbi (Lazio), Alessandro Bastoni (Inter), Davide Calabria (Milan), Danilo D’Ambrosio (Inter), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Emerson Palmieri Dos Santos (Chelsea), Gian Marco Ferrari (Sassuolo), Alessandro Florenzi (Paris Saint-Germain), Luca Pellegrini (Genoa), Alessio Romagnoli (Milan);
Midfielders: Nicolò Barella (Inter), Frello Jorge Luiz Jorginho (Chelsea), Manuel Locatelli (Sassuolo), Matteo Pessina (Atalanta), Roberto Soriano (Bologna), Sandro Tonali (Milan);
Attackers: Andrea Belotti (Torino), Domenico Berardi (Sassuolo), Federico Bernardeschi (Juventus), Stephan El Shaarawy (Shanghai Shenua), Lorenzo Insigne (Napoli), Kevin Lasagna (Udinese), Stefano Okaka Chuka (Udinese), Riccardo Orsolini (Bologna).

The schedule

Monday 16 November
16:30 – Training session (behind closed doors) at the Federal Technical Centre in Coverciano

Tuesday 17 November
10:45 – Journey from Florence to Sarajevo
16:30 – Bosnia & Herzegovina press conference at the Grbavica Stadium in Sarajevo
17:00 –Bosnia & Herzegovina training session (media access for the first 15 minutes) at the Grbavica Stadium in Sarajevo
17:30 – Italy press conference at the Grbavica Stadium in Sarajevo
18:00 – Italy training session (media access for the first 15 minutes) at the Grbavica Stadium in Sarajevo

Wednesday 18 November
20:45 – Bosnia & Herzegovina vs. ITALY post-match press event and subsequent return to Italy