It’s an exciting occasion, there’s no point hiding it. Tomorrow evening (20:45 CEST, live on Rai 1 - Burgos from Spain will be the referee) at the Stadio ‘Friuli’ in Udine, the national side will take on Israel in front of around 12,000 fans (11,700 tickets sold so far) with the goal of increasing their points lead over the trailing teams in the group, France (-1) and Belgium (-3), who face each other in Brussels in the other group match on Matchday four of the Nations League. Unbeaten in Udine (7 wins and 2 draws) and against Israel (5 wins and a draw), Italy will look to secure the win that escaped them on Thursday in Rome against Belgium, as we let a two goal lead slip. A match, the one against the Red Devils, was dominated by the Azzurri in the first 40 minutes and which changed inevitably after the Pellegrini sending off. 

“An aspect on which we can improve - Luciano Spalletti explained in the interview given to Vivo Azzurro TV - is to understand that sometimes these incidents can disrupt the quality of play, teamwork and the things that we have set up in the right direction. We need to know that there’s also this risk”. And in terms of the risks, we can’t underestimate Israel, the bottom team in the group on 0 points, but capable of making life difficult as seen in the last clash on 9 September in Budapest: We need to be ready to deal with all types of quality that they have — Spalletti warns - of which there are a lot. They have technicians in midfield, they have a few playmakers and the risk of hitting us on the counters given their quality is quite high”. 

One month ago – this morning at Coverciano the team underwent a final pre-match session - we found ourselves against Israel, 72 hours after the game against France, with Spalletti making five changes from the starting lineup which won at the Parc des Princes. This time round the group will have just four days to recover from the match against Belgium: “Roughly speaking it’s something that involves us thinking that you’re organised for the team. But then there are times which sometimes are a bit disrupted between the matches. We have more than 24 hours to go, and for this we will continue to monitor the situation”.

In Udine, Spalletti made an important step in his coaching career, managing the Bianconero side firstly in 2001 and then from 2002 to 2005, a three year period filled with satisfaction that ended with the Friulani’s first qualification to the Champions League: “I had a brilliant time in Udine - the Head Coach remembers - making a return will be emotional. It was a job which allowed me to develop every part of my career, from the sporting side to the human side. It’s a very warm city, with lovely people. I have lots of friends here who will be at the stadium tomorrow to watch the match”.

VICARIO. It will also be a special match for Guglielmo Vicario, who was born in Udine and grew up there before embarking on a journey which has taken him to London, with Tottenham. He will be at the ‘Friuli’ for the first time in the Azzurri shirt” From a personal point of view - he said to the OTT platform of the FIGC - it’s a great achievement. It’s the stadium that I grew up with, going to it every Sunday as a child fan. Tomorrow, my friends and family will be there to watch us. On an emotional level, it will be a big experience, making me proud of the journey I have made so far”. 

The motto for the match against Israel is attention: “They’re a very quick and technical team, there’s no true way of knowing how they will be on the pitch: they change, they defend in a four or a three, they have different characteristics and qualities. We need to be particularly conscious of the counter attacks, as they have very quick and technical players. We will need to be concentrated and well organised, we know that we have to bring the game to them in front of our fans and, as fair as it is, the attention paid should be on ourselves and how we will approach the match to get the result”. A win tomorrow would allow us to make a big step forward to the qualifications for the quarter finals: “The goal is to confirm ourselves as a group, trying to showcase everything we’ve done so far on the pitch in the first three games. Confirming ourselves from a result based point of view would give us another boost going into the next two games in November. We have to be clear and direct in our objective, it’s an important and difficult match and we need to try and find the points”. 

SQUAD LIST

Goalkeepers: Michele Di Gregorio (Juventus), Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint-Germain), Guglielmo Vicario (Tottenham);
Defenders: Alessandro Bastoni (Inter), Raoul Bellanova (Atalanta), Alessandro Buongiorno (Napoli), Riccardo Calafiori (Arsenal), Andrea Cambiaso (Juventus), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Federico Dimarco (Inter), Matteo Gabbia (Milan), Caleb Okoli (Leicester), Destiny Udogie (Tottenham);
Midfielders: Nicolò Fagioli (Juventus), Davide Frattesi (Inter), Niccolò Pisilli (Roma), Samuele Ricci (Torino), Sandro Tonali (Newcastle);
Forwards: Lorenzo Lucca (Udinese), Daniel Maldini (Monza), Giacomo Raspadori (Napoli), Mateo Retegui (Atalanta), Nicolò Zaniolo (Atalanta).