Ten months later, the National Team is back. Since 18 November 2019, the day of their last match which ended in a 9-1 win over Armenia in Palermo, Head Coach Roberto Mancini and his Azzurri have seen completely unknown territory along with the rest of the world, kept away from the pitch for so long due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Coach touched on this unusual atmosphere in today’s press conference to open the team’s meet at Coverciano, the Azzurri coming together to train ahead of their two UEFA Nations League fixtures on Friday 4 September against Bosnia & Herzegovina in Florence (20:45 CEST kick-off) and on Monday 7 September against the Netherlands in Amsterdam (20:45 CEST kick-off).

Tanned and relaxed, Mancini goes into the new season off the back of an incredible run of positive results and optimism from Italy’s past performances: “I’m very happy to be back at Coverciano and to be back with the guys after so many months. In the last few hours we’ve done the medical tests and fortunately all the results came back negative, so we’re satisfied and ready to get down to work. I’m not worried about the situation, things are improving and I hope that we’ll be back to normal as soon as possible.”

The start of the second edition of the Nations League is fast approaching, the new-born international competition providing important experience for an Italy looking to reach the final and improve their FIFA Ranking. Mancini went into more depth: “We’re restarting with even more drive, with the fact we haven’t played for so long there’s even more desire to get back on the pitch and see that beautiful Italy side we left all those months ago. It’s the same group of players. We need to check their fitness, we’ll see how they’re doing over the next few days and then we’ll find the right solutions. If a player’s doing well but they can’t quite manage 90 minutes, they’ll still play their part.”

But our Head Coach’s goals are distinctly long-term: “My objective,” explained Mancini, “is to do well in the European Championship and at the World Cup. It would be a pity to leave the Italy job to someone else.” Mancini, therefore, is focusing his attention on the 2022 World Cup and emphasised, when asked specifically about whether any clubs had shown interest in acquiring his services: “No clubs looked to hire me, but it’s difficult: I started this job two years ago and for me, we’ve done a great job, we want to continue as we are and improve. And as for Lippi, there’s nothing to explain, the President has already made everything clear. I don’t think that’s at all important. Gravina discussed it with me because stories had been published about it in the newspapers and that was that. I didn’t need to be reassured, there was nothing to explain to me.” Mancini’s Italy side will be taking to the pitch against Bosnia & Herzegovina on Friday, and he has no doubts ahead of the match: “We’ve got to show real passion, just like we did in our qualification group, there’s got to be a desire to play for the National Team again. If we build on the foundations we’ve already got in place: we’ve been playing good football and enjoying ourselves on the pitch. It won’t be an easy match against Bosnia & Herzegovina, then we’ll re-evaluate our situation ahead of the match in Amsterdam. The last few months have been really tough, but this team still has room for improvement, and we’ve already worked out a playstyle. Of course, we’ll be without Verratti, and when it comes to Jorginho, we’re not sure what condition he’s in.”

Italy have faced Bosnia & Herzegovina on three occasions: after a 2-1 friendly defeat in November 1996, a match which marked the end of the Sacchi era, Italy won both of their subsequent encounters in EURO 2020 qualifiers (2-1 in Turin and 3-0 in Zenica). Italy are unbeaten in Florence, having played 26 games in the city, coming away with 20 wins and six draws. Their last trip to the Franchi ended in a 1-0 win for the Azzurri, with Graziano Pellé’s goal gifting Italy three points against Malta in EURO 2016 qualification.

Before the press conference with Mancini got underway, Paolo Corbi, head of the FIGC Press Office paid tribute to the lives of a number of journalists and industry specialists who have passed away since the last time the Azzurri were in action. Among the names mentioned were TV director Vincenzo Belli and the journalists Alessandro Rialti, Franco Lauro and Gianni Mura.

The full squad list

Goalkeepers: Alessio Cragno (Cagliari), Gianluigi Donnarumma (AC Milan), Alex Meret (Napoli), Salvatore Sirigu (Torino);

Defenders: Francesco Acerbi (Lazio), Alessandro Bastoni (Inter), Cristiano Biraghi (Inter), Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus), Mattia Caldara (Atalanta), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Danilo D’Ambrosio (Inter), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Alessandro Florenzi (Roma), Gianluca Mancini (Roma), Luca Pellegrini (Juventus), Leonardo Spinazzola (Roma);

Midfielders: Nicolò Barella (Inter), Giacomo Bonaventura, Gaetano Castrovilli (Fiorentina), Bryan Cristante (Roma), Jorginho* (Chelsea), Roberto Gagliardini (Inter), Manuel Locatelli (Sassuolo), Lorenzo Pellegrini (Roma), Stefano Sensi (Inter), Sandro Tonali* (Brescia), Nicolò Zaniolo (Roma);

Forwards: Andrea Belotti (Torino), Federico Bernardeschi (Juventus), Francesco Caputo (Sassuolo), Federico Chiesa (Fiorentina), Stephan El Shaarawy (Shanghai Shenua), Ciro Immobile (Lazio), Lorenzo Insigne (Napoli), Moise Kean (Everton), Kevin Lasagna (Udinese), Riccardo Orsolini (Bologna).

*Suspended call-ups awaiting the outcome of medical tests once the players' respective isolation requirements are complete.

The schedule (all times CEST):

Sunday 30 August

13:45 – Press conference with the Coach at the Coverciano Auditorium 

17:30 – Training (behind closed doors)

Monday 31 August

13:45 – Press conference with a player at the Coverciano Auditorium

17:30 – Training (behind closed doors)

Tuesday 1 September

13:45 – Press conference with a player at the Coverciano Auditorium

17:30 – Training (behind closed doors)

Wednesday 2 September

13:45 – Press conference with a player at the Coverciano Auditorium

17:30 – Training (behind closed doors)

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