Yesterday evening, Italy Women landed in Denmark, where they’ll play their final match of the year against the group leaders in European qualifying tomorrow. The Danes are already certain of their place in next summer’s European Championship following their victory over the Azzurre in Empoli a month ago.

Despite the 3-1 defeat, Italy could still finish top of the group if they beat Denmark by three or more goals tomorrow and then finish off their qualifying campaign with a victory over Israel in 2021. A more likely scenario would be for the Azzurre to qualify as one of the three best runners-up: along with Bertolini’s girls, seven other countries are in contention to do so, so it’ll be important for Italy to pick up points at the Viborg Stadion.

Milena Bertolini doesn’t want to make any calculations, however, and is asking her team to take to the pitch to win tomorrow: “Every match is a story in itself, we’ll see what happens during the match, but we’ll be leaving too much to chance if we focus on trying to pick up a draw,” the Head Coach said. “They’re the group favourites and are a strong side, as they demonstrated in their match against us. However, we didn’t play all our cards in that game. Tomorrow, we’ll need to display our qualities and go toe-to-toe with them for the entirety of the game.”

Aware of what’s at stake, the Azzurre will be looking to gain revenge on the team that finished runners-up at the last European Championship. At 17:15 CET, they’ll put the finishing touches to their preparations, while the 23-player squad will then be submitted to UEFA in the evening. Inter goalkeeper Roberta Aprile is also in Denmark: after previously leaving the training camp at Coverciano, she’s back with the squad so that the medical staff can calmly assess the condition of Katja Schroffenegger, who has picked up a slight injury.

Squad list

Goalkeepers: Roberta Aprile (Inter), Rachele Baldi (AS Roma), Laura Giuliani (Juventus), Katja Schroffenegger (Fiorentina);

Defenders: Elisa Bartoli (AS Roma), Lisa Boattin (Juventus), Lucia Di Guglielmo (Empoli), Sara Gama (Juventus), Laura Fusetti (AC Milan), Elena Linari (Bordeaux), Tecla Pettenuzzo (AS Roma), Linda Tucceri Cimini (AC Milan);

Midfielders: Valentina Bergamaschi (AC Milan), Sofia Cantore (Florentia), Arianna Caruso (Juventus), Valentina Cernoia (Juventus), Aurora Galli (Juventus), Manuela Giugliano (AS Roma), Marta Mascarello (Fiorentina), Martina Rosucci (Juventus);

Forwards: Barbara Bonansea (Juventus), Valentina Giacinti (AC Milan), Cristiana Girelli (Juventus), Daniela Sabatino (Fiorentina), Stefania Tarenzi (Inter).

Schedule (all times CET) 

Monday 30 November
17:15 Training at the Vibrog Stadium

Tuesday 1 December
17:15 Denmark vs. Italy

Wednesday 2 December
10:00 Return to Italy