Second day of meeting and double training session for the National Under 21 team, at work at the CPO of Tirrenia two weeks before their debut in the European Championship. After yesterday's departures of Moise Kean and Niccolò Pierozzi, there are 27 players left at the disposal of Paolo Nicolato, who will be called to choose the 23 Azzurrini who will take part in the continental tournament on Tuesday 13th June.

In the afternoon, the national team received a visit from CONI secretary general Carlo Mornati. Mornati, head of Paris 2024, wished the team good luck for the European Championships, which will also put three places for the Olympic Games up for grabs.

'The Olympic team,' said the CONI Secretary General, 'is unique and made up of many athletes and within this team there are teams. You are all part of a big family. Unfortunately the football team has missed three Olympic Games, there has been no mention of Italian football at the Olympics for at least 12 years. It is a great pity that we cannot aspire to the Olympic dream. Half of the group from the 2006 World Cup took the Olympic medal in Athens, here is Marco Amelia but with him were Pirlo, De Rossi, Gilardino, Barzagli: a block of champions who put the medal around their necks. With coach Nicolato we decided to show you what the Olympics are: the most watched event in the world. I hope you can go as far as possible at the European Championship, we will be here to support you'.

After presenting Mornati with a personalised national team jersey with number ten on the back, Nicolato emphasised: "We have a group that we trust and we will do everything we can to qualify because it is something we feel is ours. Thank you for your contribution, we will do our best".

The meeting was also attended by the head of the CONI Olympic Preparation Centres, Alessio Palombi, and two great sportsmen and women, gymnast Elisa Santoni and swimmer Alessio Boggiatto, who recounted their experiences at the Olympics, wishing the Azzurrini the same emotions next summer.

"My Olympic dream - the words of Elisa Santoni - began to materialise at the 2003 World Championships in Budapest, where we won bronze and got through to Athens 2004. It was a revenge in life because I had a heart operation as a child. In Athens I was the youngest on the team and it was the realisation of a dream. It is difficult to understand an Olympic Games until you experience them first hand. I took part in three different Olympics. Beijing 2008 gave us a desire for redemption that made us win three consecutive World Championships. Three different editions, but united by context. What makes the Olympic Games unique is the atmosphere. Within the Olympic context, the values of sport are emphasised to the nth degree. One feels a strong sense of belonging to one's own country, one also rejoices in the medals of others'.

'I participated in three Olympics,' Boggiatto recounted, 'I was 19 in the first one and did not understand the importance of it, I came fourth. The following year I won the World Championship, but then two swimmers like Phelps and Cseh came out. In 2004, I made a mistake in my preparation in the high seas and by a few hundredths I came fourth: the only sporting remorse I have had in my career. After 2004, I managed to drag myself to Beijing 2008, with the finals in the morning. This allowed me, at 28, to have a few more hours to recover, but the best I could do was a fourth or fifth place. Try to qualify, because only when you are there will you understand the importance of the event. Give it your all!"

And it could not miss a footballer, Marco Amelia, the Italian goalkeeper World Champion in 2006 who won the bronze medal with Claudio Gentile's Italy at the 2004 Athens Games.

"I understand you," he said turning to the players, "you think you have to win the European Championship, that the Olympic Games don't matter to you. It happened to us too, but then once I came back from the Olympics I could say that it was the best sporting experience I had. You eat next to so many champions, in the evening you cheer other Italians at Casa Italia. I hope you go there, you can win the World Cup with the national team, but at the Olympics you are an athlete like the others, you have to adapt. We lived in the village together with Argentina, with Tevez, D'Alessandro. We won the bronze in the final against Iraq. Pirlo was with us as an out-of-team member then there were players like Gilardino, Barzagli, De Rossi. Prepare well for this European Championship, it's great to win it and then it gives you the opportunity to live the most beautiful experience, something incredible".

The players and staff were then shown an emotional video with the words of other champions who flew the colours of Italy such as Marcell Jacobs, Federica Pellegrini, Carlo Molfetta and Daniele De Rossi. Messages of encouragement with an eye on Paris 2024, in the hope that football Italy will succeed in gaining qualification fifteen years after its last participation in the 2008 Beijing Games.

Squad list

Goalkeepers: Marco Carnesecchi (Cremonese), Alessandro Sorrentino (Monza), Stefano Turati (Frosinone)
Defenders: Riccardo Calafiori (Basilea), Andrea Cambiaso (Bologna), Giorgio Cittadini (Modena), Matteo Lovato (Salernitana), Caleb Okoli (Atalanta), Fabiano Parisi (Empoli), Lorenzo Pirola (Salernitana), Giacomo Quagliata (Cremonese), Giorgio Scalvini (Atalanta), Destiny Iyenoma Udogie (Udinese), Alessandro Zanoli (Sampdoria);
Midfielders: Edoardo Bove (Roma), Giovanni Fabbian (Reggina), Jacopo Fazzini (Empoli), Fabio Miretti (Juventus), Samuele Ricci (Torino), Nicolò Rovella (Monza), Sandro Tonali (Milan);
Forwards: Nicolò Cambiaghi (Empoli), Matteo Cancellieri (Lazio), Lorenzo Colombo (Lecce), Samuele Mulattieri (Frosinone), Gaetano Pio Oristanio (Volendam), Pietro Pellegri (Torino).

The schedule

(All times in CEST)

Wednesday 7 June
Until 12.00, gather at CPO di Tirrenia
14 - Press conference Nicolato (Zoom and in person)
17 - Training (open to press)

Thursday 8 June
10 - Training (closed)
17 - Training (closed)

Friday 9 June
10 - Training (closed)
15.30 - Meeting with UEFA for CPR campaign
17 - Training (closed)

Saturday 10 June
10 - Training (closed)
17 - Training (closed)

Sunday 11 June
10 - Training (closed)
17 - Training (closed)

Monday 12 June
10 - Training (open to press)
The squad break up and go home