Two days to go. Luca Spalletti’s debut in the Italian dugout draws ever closer. Tomorrow, the team will fly to Skopje on the eve of their match against North Macedonia. In the meantime, the Azzurri are continuing their preparations at Coverciano, where between this afternoon and tomorrow morning they will undergo two training sessions ahead of Saturday’s match.

Nicolò Barella is one of the players expected to start the game, he is used to playing in a 5-man midfield with Inter but has the skills to play as an attacking forward in Spalletti’s 4-3-3 lineup. With 8 goals in 45 appearances, he is the highest-scoring midfielder amongst the Azzurri: “It is always a huge honour to come here to Coverciano”, he starts the press conference, before moving on to talk about his impressions of Spalletti: “The first thing that jumps out about the coach is his candour. He has given me compliments and criticisms, he has been honest with me and I really appreciate that”. Barella’s assessment of the man as a coach is even more positive: “He always made his squads play really well, I think that Napoli played some of the best football in Europe last season, alongside Manchester City. So far he’s shared some great ideas with us, they were new ideas for me and I’ve worked with various managers. Ideas not only about playing with the ball but also about movement and defensive play. Now it’s up to us to execute them on the pitch”.

A connoisseur of wines, like Spalletti, Barella compares the rebirth of the Italy side to a Brunello (“because we need to be elegant with a good character”) without, however, being negative about the Head coach that gave him his debut: “I can only thank Mancini, he was one of the first people to believe in me when I was playing for Cagliari. Having won the Euros we will be tied together forever. Now there is a new start waiting for us, with a coach who is just as good but with different ideas. Of course, it will take time, but I’ve already seen great readiness from everyone this week. We will try to do our best right away as we need two wins”. 

Playing a great last season that saw him reach the Champions League final with Inter, the Nerazzurri midfielder is the only Italian player to feature on the list of 30 nominees for this year’s Ball d’Or: “I want to thank my teammates at Inter because last year was an amazing season, even if we didn’t manage to win the Champions League. The fact that I am nominated is down to them and the coach. There are many Italian players, including some here in the national team, that probably deserve to be nominated, I am very proud to represent Italy on the list of nominees”.

On Saturday they will face North Macedonia which will bring back one of the most bitter memories of the Azzurri for Barella. Nicolò played on 24 March 2022, when Trajkovski’s goal stopped Italy from qualifying for the World Cup in Qatar: “This match weighed so heavily on me in Palermo, we all felt like we didn’t deserve to be there and this greatly affected us. We were probably too rushed, we wanted to put the game to bed straight away knowing that we’d have to play another match three days later. There are many factors that played into it and made us lose focus”.

The experience he’s gained over the last season in Europe could also prove invaluable to the National team: “Playing against the best teams in the world helps you to improve in every way, it allows you to take something from your opponents. If there is something that I still need to improve on, it’s the impulsive part of my personality that comes out now and again. I will keep playing my game with grit and determination knowing that I have to try to score a few more goals”. In his time at Roma, both Perrotta and Nainggolan benefited greatly from Spalletti, scoring more and more goals and turning into tried and trusted forwards: “With Inzaghi I’ve become more interceptive if the Coach will ask me to play like this and will improve me, I’ll be happy to help”.

 

Squad list

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint Germain), Alex Meret (Napoli), Ivan Provedel (Lazio), Guglielmo Vicario (Tottenham);
Defenders: Alessandro Bastoni (Inter), Cristiano Biraghi (Fiorentina), Nicolò Casale (Lazio), Matteo Darmian (Inter), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Federico Dimarco (Inter), Gianluca Mancini (Roma), Alessio Romagnoli (Lazio), Giorgio Scalvini (Atalanta), Leonardo Spinazzola (Roma);
Midfielders: Nicolò Barella (Inter), Bryan Cristante (Roma), Davide Frattesi (Inter), Manuel Locatelli (Juventus), Lorenzo Pellegrini (Roma), Matteo Pessina (Monza), Sandro Tonali (Newcastle);
Forwards: Federico Chiesa (Juventus), Wilfried Gnonto (Leeds), Ciro Immobile (Lazio), Matteo Politano (Napoli), Giacomo Raspadori (Napoli), Mateo Retegui (Genoa), Mattia Zaccagni (Lazio), Nicolò Zaniolo (Aston Villa).