Two months out from the playoffs that will determine the destiny of the National team on its way to the World Cup in Qatar, during the press conference at the beginning of the camp, Roberto Mancini repeated several times that these sessions together "will be useful to evaluate players that have not been called up to the national team for a long time or that have never been called up before". Two and a half days and three training sessions to better understand certain situations on the field, in the flesh. For this reason, at the beginning of the press conference, the coach took his time to think the clubs for "the chance to have the players with us, seeing that it was not an official requirement sanctioned by FIFA".

"Although we will only have just over two days," underlined Mancini, "it can still be enough to make an assessment. We'll try a few different tactical situations: in the next fixtures we could also change formation and I don't think this will be a problem for the players, since they play in different setups for their clubs compared to the national team. We are having a look at several options, considering that in the first game of the play-offs we will need to be good at finding spaces.

We aren’t feeling the pressure today, but it will certainly come when we are a week away from the playoffs for the World Cup: it will be a necessary kind of 'healthy' pressure that will do us some good".

The coach candidly admitted that he would have been happy to do without play-offs and that the Azzurri will go into them without some of the players who played a huge role in their conquest of the European title only a few months ago: "We have suffered a lot of injuries and so I wanted to see lots of different players. The group has worked well together to reach a great goal and we have to see how the players called up for this training camp can integrate into the team that is already well established.

To the questions about the individuals who have returned to the Azzurri set-up after a long time or who have been called up for the first time to the national team, Mancini responded by addressing his choices: "On a technical level Balotelli has always been good, we need to understand how he is physically: seeing a player in the flesh for two days is certainly very useful. Zaniolo? I think he can be a great attacking midfielder, even though he has the physique to play upfront: I played him in that role against Switzerland. We've always believed in Scamacca, even years ago. He has technical and physical qualities: he can be a great centre forward. He's been scoring goals consistently and we have great confidence in him: a lot will also depend on how fit the lads are in March. Joao Pedro can fit in here, he has quality: I'll have the chance to see him more closely over the next few days. As for Luiz Felipe, it's a pleasure to have him with us because we think he's a great defender".

Finally, with his mind already focused on March 24th, on the play-off semi-final against North Macedonia, coach Mancini underlined the importance of the decision to play such a decisive match in Palermo: "We looked for a stadium where we could be certain of a great atmosphere. The pitch is in good condition today and I think it will be very good in March".

By clicking on this link https://dam.gettyimages.com/s/k86zgwmwvp9nbstr7xq6frqt it will be possible to download pictures of coach Roberto Mancini in the press conference. The images can be used by entering as Credits: Getty for Figc. 

Squad list

Goalkeepers: Marco Carnesecchi (Cremonese), Alessio Cragno (Cagliari), Alex Meret (Napoli), Salvatore Sirigu (Genoa);
Defenders: Cristiano Biraghi (Fiorentina), *Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus), Davide Calabria (Milan), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Mattia De Sciglio (Juventus), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Gian Marco Ferrari (Sassuolo), Alessandro Florenzi (Milan), Luiz Felipe (Lazio), Gianluca Mancini (Roma), Caleb Okoli (Cremonese), Luca Pellegrini (Juventus), Alessio Romagnoli (Milan), Rafael Toloi (Atalanta);
Midfielders: Nicolò Barella (Inter), Bryan Cristante (Roma), Nicolò Fagioli (Cremonese), Davide Frattesi (Sassuolo), Manuel Locatelli (Juventus), *Lorenzo Pellegrini (Roma), Matteo Pessina (Atalanta), Samuele Ricci (Empoli), Stefano Sensi (Inter), Sandro Tonali (Milan);
Forwards: Mario Balotelli (Adana Demirspor), Domenico Berardi (Sassuolo), Federico Bernardeschi (Juventus), Ciro Immobile (Lazio), Lorenzo Insigne (Napoli), Joao Pedro (Cagliari), Giacomo Raspadori (Sassuolo), Gianluca Scamacca (Sassuolo), Mattia Zaccagni (Lazio), Nicolò Zaniolo (Roma).

*will only take part in tactical work and return to their respective clubs tomorrow. 

 

*The schedule

Wednesday 26 January
15:30 – Training (behind closed doors)

Thursday 27 January
15:30 – Training (behind closed doors)

Friday 28 January
10:30 – Training (behind closed doors)

*Media access is not permitted. The pictures of the training sessions will be produced by the FIGC and distributed to the requesting media. For info: Massimiliano Reale (FIGC Area Sales): email: m.reale@figc.it. Tel: 06/84913023.