It’s the second day of training at Coverciano for the National Team, who began their preparations for the Finalissima against Argentina and their first four UEFA Nations League matches yesterday. As he waits for the five Conference League-winning Roma players to join up with the group tomorrow (they were given an extra 48 hours of rest), Roberto Mancini will also be working with 40 players today, including the six new faces (Gatti, Esposito, Ricci, Cancellieri, Gnonto and Zerbin) that the Head Coach included in the squad after watching them in the training camp dedicated to promising young talents.

With 47 Italy appearances to his name, Alessandro Florenzi, meanwhile, can now very much consider himself a regular at Coverciano. The last ten months have been unforgettable for the AC Milan defender, who, after the triumph at Wembley with the Azzurri, has now also won the Scudetto: “During my time at AC Milan, I’ve noticed many similarities between the Rossoneri and the Euro-winning Italy side. I’ve been saying it for a while now; they didn’t really understand me at AC Milan because they hadn’t experienced what I experienced. In the end, I’m glad that I was right.

Between the European Championship and the Scudetto title, there’s also been the disappointment of missing out on the World Cup: “If we had been eliminated against Portugal in the final, it would have been different. I say this with the utmost respect for North Macedonia, who, however, aren’t on our level. But nothing can be taken for granted in football; you need to play every match as if it were a final. That said, we had 50 shots in Palmero. We created lots of chances in our qualifying matches but weren’t able to convert them. There are no regrets as regards the way we played. It’s difficult to understand how we didn’t qualify, and we’re obviously disappointed with what happened. But now we want to turn the page.” In order to start this new chapter, a lot of focus needs to be paid to young players, who also need to get playing time under their belts for their respective clubs: “A lot of youngsters aren’t playing a lot and it isn’t easy. Are they ready? Yes and no. Tonali, for example, is ready to play for the National Team.”

While Chiellini is set to say his final goodbyes, Florenzi has no intention of leaving the Azzurri setup: “You can never say no to Italy. We’ll miss Giorgio’s charisma, his smile, his speeches and his sense of calm. A legend of Italian football is moving on, and we hope his time with the National Team will end on a winning note on Wednesday.” Roberto Mancini is still in the Azzurri dugout and, when asked if he feared the Head Coach would resign after the defeat to North Macedonia, Florenzi gave the following response: “I was more worried he’d resign when we won the Euros.”

When the Azzurri come up against Argentina at Wembley, all those joyful memories of a year ago will inevitably return: “I would have been the sixth penalty-taker, so I thank Gigio for that. Returning to Wembley will be a special feeling. The disappointment of missing out on the World Cup remains in all of us, but we also need to remember what we did at the European Championship.”

Squad list

Goalkeepers: Alessio Cragno (Cagliari), Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint-Germain), Alex Meret (Napoli), Salvatore Sirigu (Genoa);
Defenders: Francesco Acerbi (Lazio), Alessandro Bastoni (Inter), Cristiano Biraghi (Fiorentina), Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus), Davide Calabria (Milan), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Federico Dimarco (Inter), Emerson Palmieri Dos Santos (Olympique Lyonnais), Alessandro Florenzi (Milan), Federico Gatti (Frosinone), Manuel Lazzari (Lazio), Luiz Felipe (Lazio), Gianluca Mancini (Roma), Giorgio Scalvini (Atalanta), Leonardo Spinazzola (Roma);
Midfielders: Nicolò Barella (Inter), Bryan Cristante (Roma), Salvatore Esposito (Spal), Davide Frattesi (Sassuolo), Jorginho Frello Jorge Luiz (Chelsea), Manuel Locatelli (Juventus), Lorenzo Pellegrini (Roma), Matteo Pessina (Atalanta), Tommaso Pobega (Torino), Samuele Ricci (Torino), Sandro Tonali (Milan), Marco Verratti (Paris Saint-Germain);
Forwards: Andrea Belotti (Torino), Federico Bernardeschi (Juventus), Matteo Cancellieri (Verona), Gianluca Caprari (Verona), Wilfried Gnonto (FC Zurich), Lorenzo Insigne (Napoli), Moise Bioty Kean (Juventus), Matteo Politano (Napoli), Giacomo Raspadori (Sassuolo), Gianluca Scamacca (Sassuolo), Mattia Zaccagni (Lazio), Nicolò Zaniolo (Roma), Alessio Zerbin (Frosinone).