We head to Germany on the back of a win. After the draw in Bologna against Türkiye, the national team ended their week of friendly tests, ahead of EURO 2024, with a 1-0 victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina. Deciding the contest at the Castellani, on an evening opened up by celebrating the Under 17s becoming European champions, was a goal in the first half (his fifth for the Azzurri and fourth under Spalletti) by Davide Frattesi. It is also now three clean sheets on the trot, starting with the win in March against Ecuador. The national team, who return to Coverciano in the evening, will leave for Dortmund on Monday afternoon, before moving to Iserlohn, which will be the national team's headquarters for this European campaign. 

"We have taken a step forward," said coach Luciano Spalletti. "The team did well in possession tonight and it showed. We also found some good nice through balls several times: it's a shame we missed two or three goal chances at the start; it would have been a different match. We haven't been as consistent as we'd have liked, but we've done some things better. From what we asked, we received answers. We're still lacking a bit of rhythm and maintaining our play, and the quality of the passes: three times we gave the ball away to Bosnia and this dampens a good performance a bit. We're not 100% yet, but we still have time. We gave everyone minutes, giving them the opportunity to compete with this shirt on."

THE GAME. Compared to the friendly against Turkey, Spalletti made nine changes to the line-up that started against Türkiye: only Jorginho and Chiesa kept their places. Bosnia and Herzegovina had the first opportunity: Hajradinovic intercepted a horizontal pass from Calafiori and shot right-footed into the corner, but Donnarumma got down well to save. Italy replied immediately, with a ball rebounding off Frattesi and Mujakic that dropped for Chiesa: on the Juventus player's attempt, first Piric and then Katic blocked Italy's opening goal. Gazibegovic's free kick was then comfortably saved by Donnarumma. But it was Frattesi, with his forward runs, who looked most dangerous for Italy: the Inter midfielder headed just wide from Fagioli's corner before finding the only goal of the game in the 38th minute, with a right-footed volley following Chiesa's cross in from the left.

The teams came back unchanged, but welcoming them was the pouring rain. The first chance of the second half came in the 63rd minute when Buongiorno crossed into the box for Scamacca to volley on target, but the visiting keeper, Piric, made a great save. Ten minutes later and Piric denied Scamacca again, this time following Cambiaso's cross from the right. A quarter of an hour from the end, Michael Folorunsho came on to make his Azzurri debut, replacing the matchwinner, Frattesi. In the closing stages, however, a scare came following substitute Dimarco's error, which sent Ahmedhodzic through on goal, but Donnarumma did well to block the Bosnian number 16. Next up is Albania in Dortmund on Saturday, with huge points at stake to kick off our Euro 2024 campaign in the best possible way.

ITALY 1-0 BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA (1-0 h.t.)
ITALY (3-4-2-1) Donnarumma; Darmian, Buongiorno, Calafiori; Bellanova (65' Dimarco), Jorginho (65' Pellegrini), Fagioli (65' Cristante), Cambiaso; Frattesi (76' Folorunsho), Chiesa (76' Raspadori); Scamacca (84' Retegui). Unused subs: Vicario, Meret, Di Lorenzo, Gatti, Mancini, Zaccagni, El Shaarawy, Bastoni. Coach: Spalletti

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA (3-5-2): Piric; Ahmedodzic, Katic (89' Muharemovic), Bicakcic; Gazibegovic, Hajradinovic (67' Burnic), Tahirovic, Saric (67' Huseinbasic), Mujakic (81' Hadzikadunic); Gigovic (89' Sosic), Demirovic. Unused subs: Hadzikic, Tabakovic. Coach: Barbarez

Referee: Theouli (Cyprus). Assistants: Soteriou, Petrou (Cyprus). Fourth official: Sacchi (Italy)

Scorer: 38’ Frattesi

Booking: Huseinbasic (B)