Exactly one month after qualifying for the European Championship finals, the U21s are ready to well and truly begin their match towards next summer’s tournament in Slovakia. At 16:15 CET on Friday 15 November, the Azzurrini will face France in the first of two friendlies scheduled for this international window (the second one will be against Ukraine in La Spezia on Tuesday). Both fixtures will allow Carmine Nunziata to start thinking about who will be in the squad that will compete for the Euro trophy in June.

“We’ve worked well in the past three days,” said the Head Coach during his pre-match press conference. “We’ll be up against a strong team, one of the best in Europe. France have a lot of talent and a squad with real depth, but I’m not envious. I think I also have a strong squad with important moral values. I prefer my team, from whom I’m asking for consistency so we can arrive at the Euros in the best possible shape to have a great tournament.”

Beyond the opponents, Nunziata doesn’t want to see any changes in his players’ attitude: “Our philosophy remains the same: high pressing, building play. And we want to consolidate that philosophy. Every match is a story in itself: you’ll have moments where you manage to dominate play, but there will also be times when you have to defend. Irrespective of whether we’re pushing high up the pitch or dropping back, we need to stay compact and display intensity.”

After initially being named in the U20 squad for the matches against Poland and Romania, Simone Pafundi has now joined up with the U21s: “He was involved in the U20 World Cup in 2023, so he knows his teammates. Technically, he possesses a lot of quality. He hasn’t played much because of injury problems, but he’s getting back to full fitness and it’s only right for him to have a chance to be part of the group.”

Zanotti and Baldanzi won’t feature in the match at the Castellani, with Nunziata mentioning that “we’ll see one team and then another in these two games.” Tomorrow’s match will be played at the stadium of a club where a lot of promising talents are developing: “Empoli are working really well; many young players emerge from their youth sector.”

Luciano Spalletti is also looking to get young players involved: “We continually exchange ideas with the Head Coach. It’s a harmonious relationship as we try to assess the lads as best we can. We’re all part of the same family, and we all work for the good of Club Italia.” Fiorentina defender Pietro Comuzzo has recently earned his first call-up to the senior side: “He’s putting in some big performances, and we pay attention to these things. He deserved his call-up.”

SQUAD LIST

Goalkeepers: Sebastiano Desplanches (Palermo), Jacopo Sassi (Modena), Gioele Zacchi (Latina);
Defenders: Nicolò Bertola (Spezia), Giovanni Bonfanti (Pisa), Diego Coppola (Hellas Verona), Daniele Ghilardi (Hellas Verona), Gabriele Guarino (Carrarese), Michael Olabode Kayode (Fiorentina), Marco Palestra (Atalanta), Lorenzo Pirola (Olympiacos), Matteo Ruggeri (Atalanta), Riccardo Turicchia (Catanzaro), Mattia Zanotti (Lugano);
Midfielders: Tommaso Baldanzi (Roma), Cesare Casadei (Chelsea), Giovanni Fabbian (Bologna), Fabio Miretti (Genoa), Cher Ndour (Besiktas), Matteo Prati (Cagliari);
Forwards: Giuseppe Ambrosino (Frosinone), Francesco Pio Esposito (Spezia), Wilfried Gnonto (Leeds), Simone Pafundi (Lausanne), Cristian Volpato (Sassuolo)