Roberto Mancini’s side get their season underway with a Nations League game against Bosnia and Herzegovina in Florence. Their objective is twofold: increase their position in the FIFA Ranking and getting to the final, which is set to be played in Italy. “Our hope is to restart as we finished ten months ago and that people continue to follow us. We’ve done well until now, but there’s still room for improvement in every aspect - technical and tactical. We’re working every day to improve,” Italy’s head coach said in his press conference ahead of tomorrow night’s game (20:45 CEST).

Getting back underway, full of enthusiasm, hunger to improve and all the qualities Italy displayed until 18 November last year - the day of the Azzurri’s 9-1 win over Armenia in Palermo and their last match. But the atmosphere compared to ten months ago is totally different. There will be no home crowd to support Italy: “Of course, it will be a little sad. I have already experienced it when crowds were banned, but that is just once in a while. Continuously playing in empty stadiums is not too pleasant. In sport in general, not just football, the players do it to entertain, to make people happy. We might be able to do something a bit more now, I hope fans are allowed back in as soon as possible.”

The objectives at play are important: “The Nations League is a competition that we value highly. Since I’ve been Italy head coach,” Mancini continued, “we’ve gone up 12 places. Now, we need to break into the top ten and avoid risks in the draw for the World Cup groups. But the Nations League is also important, because the final will be played in Italy.”

Mancini is working with a fully-formed group, but refuses to exclude anybody from breaking into the team: “The door is open to anybody, even those who aren’t there yet. The group is more or less set, we won’t stray too far with the Euros on the horizon, but one or two may come back into the squad. We expect an even more physically demanding year than the one just gone. The players have a lot of games in a short space of time, the important thing is to change things up, while maintain a similar level. We’ll pick the players in the best physical condition and so, almost all of them will play in at least one of the next two games.”

Alessandro Florenzi was alongside Mancini. He’s ready to face Bosnia, but, above all, his ex-teammate: “Dzeko will only be an opponent for me tomorrow,” the player said, “I’ll say hi to him before the game, but after, if I need to stick a foot in on him, I will, as though he were just another player. Then we’ll go back to being friends.”

Florenzi hopes he’ll play: “I’m only thinking about tomorrow’s game and, eventually, the Netherlands if the coach plays me. Then I’ll concentrate on my future. It’ll be nice to sing the national anthem and wear my country’s shirt again, we all know what’s happened.”

The schedule

Thursday 3 September

17:00 – Italy’s press conference (Coach and one player) at the Stadio Franchi in Florence (location TBC) 

17:30 - Italy’s training at the Stadio Franchi in Florence (open to the press for the first 15 minutes - location TBC)

18:30 – Bosnia & Herzegovina’s press conference (Coach and one player) at the Stadio Franchi in Florence

19:00 – Bosnia & Herzegovina’s training at the Stadio Franchi in Florence (open to the press for the first 15 minutes)

Friday 4 September

20:45 - Italy vs. Bosnia & Herzegovina (Stadio Franchi in Florence)

Followed by a press conference with the Coach

Saturday 5 September

10:00 – Training (behind closed doors)

17:30 – Transfer Florence to Venice

Sunday 6 September

10:45 – Transfer Venice to Amsterdam

11:00 – The Netherlands’ training at the KNVB Campus (open to the press for the first 15 minutes)

13:15 – The Netherlands’ press conference (Coach and one player) at the KNVB Campus

17:30 - Italy’s press conference (Coach and one player) at the Johan Cruijff ArenA

18:00 – Italy’s training at the Johan Cruijff ArenA (open to the press for the first 15 minutes)

Monday 7 September

20:45 – Netherlands vs. Italy (Johan Cruijff ArenA)

Followed by a press conference with the Coach and the squad’s return to Italy