The day after the victory against Northern Ireland, a match watched on TV by 6,129,000 people (22.64% of the share), the National Team trained in Parma this morning ahead of Sunday’s clash against Bulgaria, the second of the Azzurri's three matches in the latest round of international fixtures. The 2-0 win against Northern Ireland, with goals in the first half from Domenico Berardi and Ciro Immobile, meant Italy extended their unbeaten run to 23 games, and that they clinched their first three points on their World Cup qualifying journey. Victories are never a given and other big teams such as France, Spain and the Netherlands are well aware of this, with the two former sides having drawn against Ukraine and Greece and the Dutch beaten by Turkey, the team that the Azzurri will face in their opening European Championship match this summer. But before the Euros, Mancini’s Italy have two other games they need to win to carry on their road to Qatar, two away fixtures against Bulgaria and Lithuania that on the face of it might not seem to be difficult but could be tricky.

“The victory was very important for us to hit the ground running,” Francesco Acerbi said in a press conference today. “We did very well in the first half, we had to dig in a little bit after the restart but it was the first step towards an excellent qualifying campaign.” The Lazio centre-back, who was on the bench yesterday after previously starting the two games in November against Poland and Bosnia, is one of the pillars of a defence that hasn’t conceded a single goal in the last four matches: “Defending is a team effort, the opponents actively come after you so you need everyone’s efforts in order to avoid having problems. We have great defenders and are on a great path at the moment: we're feeling confident and are well aware of what we're capable of. Chiellini is a legend and has bags of experience. I have a good bond with Bonucci and we know what to do, I always try to be of help.” The synergy between the players is one of the secrets of a side which seems to enjoy being on the pitch: “Beyond individuals, it's the group which makes the difference. We help each other out and we have so many strong young players.”

He only came on for the last quarter of an hour, but Leonardo Spinazzola came close to his first goal for the Azzurri near the end of the game yesterday evening: “We knew that Northern Ireland would put in a lot of high balls and the game wouldn't be particularly easy on the eye,” he declared from the press room of the Tardini Stadium. However, we played our game and picked up an important victory. The Euros? Let's focus on the next few games first, then we'll think about it. We have the self-belief and the know-how to take on everyone, even if we'll be coming up against very strong teams.”

Squad list

Goalkeepers: Alessio Cragno (Cagliari), Gianluigi Donnarumma (Milan), Alex Meret (Napoli), Salvatore Sirigu (Torino);
Defenders: Francesco Acerbi (Lazio), Alessandro Bastoni (Inter), Cristiano Biraghi (Fiorentina), Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Emerson Palmieri (Chelsea), Gian Marco Ferrari (Sassuolo), Alessandro Florenzi (Paris Saint-Germain), Manuel Lazzari (Lazio), Gianluca Mancini (Roma), Leonardo Spinazzola (Roma), Rafael Toloi (Atalanta);
Midfielders: Nicolò Barella (Inter), Gaetano Castrovilli (Fiorentina), Bryan Cristante (Roma), Manuel Locatelli (Sassuolo), Rolando Mandragora (Torino), Lorenzo Pellegrini (Roma), Matteo Pessina (Atalanta), Matteo Ricci (Spezia), Stefano Sensi (Inter), Roberto Soriano (Bologna), Marco Verratti (Paris Saint-Germain);
Forwards: Andrea Belotti (Torino), Domenico Berardi (Sassuolo), Federico Bernardeschi (Juventus), Francesco Caputo (Sassuolo), Federico Chiesa (Juventus), Stephan El Shaarawy (Roma), Vincenzo Grifo (Freiburg), Ciro Immobile (Lazio), Lorenzo Insigne (Napoli).

Schedule:

Friday 26 March
 11:00 – Training (behind closed doors) (Stadio Tardini, Parma)
 12:30 – Press conference – player (Stadio Tardini, Parma)
Saturday 27 March
 10:30 – Departure from Parma to Sofia
 11:00 – Press conference – Bulgaria (Boyana National Football Center)
 11:30 – Training – Bulgaria (first 15 minutes open to the press) (Boyana National Football Center)
 18:00 – Press conference – ITALY (Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia)
 18:30 – Training – ITALY (first 15 minutes open to the press) (Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia)
Sunday 28 March
 20:45 Bulgaria vs. ITALY (Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia). Post-match press conference
Monday 29 March
 11:30 – Training (behind closed doors)
Tuesday 30 March
 10:45 – Departure from Sofia to Vilnius
 16:30 – Press conference – Lithuania (LFF Stadium, Vilnius)
 17:00 – Training – Lithuania (first 15 minutes open to the press) (LFF Stadium, Vilnius)
 17:30 – Press conference – ITALY (LFF Stadium, Vilnius)
 18:00 – Training – ITALY (first 15 minutes open to the press) (LFF Stadium, Vilnius)
Wednesday 31 March
 20:45 – Lithuania vs. ITALY (LFF Stadium, Vilnius). Post-match press conference followed by a return to respective clubs