"Fratte, you’re in traffic". These are just some of the words from Luciano Spalletti to Davide Frattesi that were heard loud and clear during the game against Albania. But the Inter midfielder is one of the players to have found a starring role in an Azzurri shirt under Spalletti: his appearances have been topped off by 4 goals (2 against Ukraine, 1 against Malta and 1 in the friendly against Bosnia and Herzegovina), all scored in Italy. His only goal scored abroad was his first, almost exactly a year ago: 18 June 2024 and Davide - still a Sassuolo player at the time - bagged against the Netherlands in the Nations League.

In a press conference at Casa Azzurri, Frattesi joked about the advice being shouted from the dugout. He explained: “It means he has faith in me, then obviously the Coach can see the game better from the sidelines. He has a more objective view of things: we are in the throws of the game and may not realise where is best to play, this is why he tries to guide us”. Guidance that may come in handy in Gelsenkirchen on Thursday against Spain, the Azzurri’s second opponent in Group B at EURO 2024: “I think that we will have less possession than against Albania, we will need to be more careful. We will have to be good at making the most of our chances”.

Frattesi’s first season at Inter saw him start only 6 league games despite racking up a total of 32 appearances: “I knew it wouldn’t be easy to join a team that just competed in a Champions League final and the minutes Inzaghi gave me at the start were justified. I’ll wear the Italy shirt under my Inter one (he jokes). Everyone hopes to play as much as possible, but when you do you have to give it your all. The tiring thing about a year like this is the travelling because the more you play the more fit you get. It’s only mentally tiring.

In the Italy camp, Frattesi finds himself back with a childhood friend, Gianluca Scamacca: “It takes very little for us to understand one another, it’s the same with my Inter teammates. What we do with the club, we do here. Speaking of Gianluca, as soon as the opportunity arises he’ll put to bed this myth that Italy doesn’t have a number 9”. Frattesi also spoke on Scamacca and the games they play in the Azzurri hotel in Iserlohn: “We can’t play ping pong, he thwacks every ball. These are the things that make a group: an area has been made available to us to create those relationships that perhaps weren’t there before”.

At 25, Frattesi still has a whole life and career ahead of him: he isn’t young compared to Lamine Yamal, the Spanish talent who is yet to turn 17. “He has had a fantastic year, a player like that is destined to become one of the greats. He’s not their only big player, for me, Rodri is the best midfielder in the world. Spain has had the same skills under their best for years: possession, dribbling. Especially now, individually they are ahead of us. We need to show that Italy spirit that has been with us for many years: to suffer, to fight. If we get stuck with 1v1 battles it will be a very difficult game. If we focus on the group, the spirit, the sacrifice, I think we’ll give a good account of ourselves”.

AZZURRI EURO 2024 SQUAD LIST

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint Germain), Alex Meret (Napoli), Guglielmo Vicario (Tottenham);
Defenders: Alessandro Bastoni (Inter), Raoul Bellanova (Torino), Alessandro Buongiorno (Torino), Riccardo Calafiori (Bologna), Andrea Cambiaso (Juventus), Matteo Darmian (Inter), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Federico Dimarco (Inter), Federico Gatti (Juventus), Gianluca Mancini (Roma);
Midfielders: Nicolò Barella (Inter), Bryan Cristante (Roma), Nicolò Fagioli (Juventus), Michael Folorunsho (Hellas Verona), Davide Frattesi (Inter), Jorginho (Arsenal), Lorenzo Pellegrini (Roma);
Forwards: Federico Chiesa (Juventus), Stephan El Shaarawy (Roma), Giacomo Raspadori (Napoli), Mateo Retegui (Genoa), Gianluca Scamacca (Atalanta), Mattia Zaccagni (Lazio).