The Under 21 national has arrived in Norway. The Azzurrini plane to Stavanger also had Tommasso Baldanzi onboard: the Roma midfielder who was forced off with an injury against San Marino as a result of a knock in the Lumbosacral area, managed to travel with the team, unlike Jacopo Fazzini and Matteo Prati. An important recovery, that of Baldanzi, who scored against the Norwegians in the first leg, and who like the rest of the squad, will be crucial in the qualifier for the Euro finals. Italy is in direct competition with Norway and the Republic of Ireland for direct qualification and access via the playoffs: Carmine Nunziata’s team are top of Group A, but the two other teams have a game in hand.

ANTOGNONI Obviously the head of the delegation, Giancarlo Antogoni is with the squad. “Purple and blue are my favourite colours" - says the World Cup Champion to Domenica Sportiva -. "Thanks a lot to the president for giving me this opportunity: I’m going to try and do whatever I can to help the players in their development. This is a brilliant Under 21 team with some very gifted players who have a chance of breaking into the first team, led by Nunziata who is a brilliant coach, and with a very good backroom staff”.

For Antognoni, there’s more to the squad than just individual talent: “Today more than ever, the concept of team unity is very important, also for tactical reasons. In any case, the Under 21 national team is the talent pool for the First team, I think Luciano Spalletti is the right head coach to bring these young players into the fold: he’s always done it throughout his career and he'll keep doing it, picking the best players but also taking the youth into account”.

The Under 21’s win against San Marino came 24 hours before the first team’s win against France: “A breath of fresh air" - Antognoni admits-. "We went through a tough period and this reset has been very positive, above all beating a team that we haven’t beaten for a very long time. Sourcing Italian players is still quite difficult: There’s a good base, but with the arrival of so many foreign players there’s a degree of difficulty. The Italian coaches should pick a few more Italian players to give the national team the possibility of functioning properly”.

Squad list
Goalkeepers: Sebastiano Desplanches (Palermo), Jacopo Sassi (Modena), Gioele Zacchi (Latina);
Defenders: Giovanni Bonfanti (Pisa), Diego Coppola (Verona), Daniele Ghilardi (Verona), Michael Olabode Kayode (Fiorentina), Lorenzo Pirola (Olympiacos), Matteo Ruggeri (Atalanta), Nicolò Savona (Juventus), Riccardo Turicchia (Catanzaro), Davide Veroli (Sampdoria), Mattia Zanotti (Lugano);
Midfielders: Tommaso Baldanzi (Roma), Alessandro Bianco (Fiorentina), Edoardo Bove (Fiorentina), Giovanni Fabbian (Bologna), Cher Ndour (Besiktas), Niccolò Pisilli (Roma), Franco Tongya (Salernitana);
Forwards: Giuseppe Ambrosino (Frosinone), Francesco Pio Esposito (Spezia), Wilfried Gnonto (Leeds), Antonio Raimondo (Venezia)

UEFA EURO UNDER 21 2025 - GROUP A

Thursday 5 September
Latvia 0-1 Norway
ITALY 7-0 San Marino

Friday 6 September
Türkiye 0-1 Republic of Ireland

Tuesday 10 September
18:00 CEST: Republic of Ireland vs. Latvia
18:30 CEST: Norway vs. ITALY (Stavanger, Rai 2) 
20:30 CEST: San Marino vs. Türkiye

Standings (games played in brackets): ITALY (8) 18 points, Republic of Ireland (7) 16, Norways (7) 15, Latvia (7) and Türkiye (7) 7, San Marino (7) 0

UPCOMING MATCHES FOR ITALY
Monday 15 October: Italy vs Republic of Ireland

Schedule

Monday 9 September
11:00 CEST: Nunziata press conference (in person) 
18:30 CEST: Walkaround stadium SR Bank Arena Stavanger

Tuesday 10 September
18:30 CEST: Norway vs. ITALY (SR Bank Arena, Stavanger, Live on RAI 2) followed by a press conference, flight from Stavanger to Milan Malpensa, Malpensa to Rome Fiumicino and the end of the delegation.