The U21 Italy team are ready to travel to Trieste. After a final training session at the Centro di Preparazione Olimpica in Tirrenia, the team travelled by coach to Florence, from where they will take the train to Friuli-Venezia Giulia, where Carmine Nunziata's side will play Ireland on Tuesday at 18:30 CEST in a match that will decide their place in the final phase of the U21 European Championship. Italy need at least a point to avoid the play-offs and qualify directly for Slovakia 2025. A celebration could have come as early as last Friday, but the draw between Ireland and Norway gave the Irish the chance to play Italy and, with a 2-2 draw in Cork, the chance to finish top of Group A if they win.

One of the most eagerly-watched players is Tommaso Baldanzi, who scored a hat-trick in the win over Norway in Stavanger in September. On Friday we all watched the game together," said the Roma player in an interview broadcast this evening on Rai 2's Domenica Sportiva. "We could have celebrated early, but we can still do it with a win on Tuesday. Everything will depend on us."

PREVIOUS ENCOUNTERS The match in Trieste will be the eleventh between Italy and Ireland at U-21 level, with the Azzurri leading the way with six wins, three draws and only one defeat, in 2012 (4-2 in Casarano). Ireland brings back fond memories, even more recent ones: on 14 June 2022 in Ascoli, goals from Rovella, Cambiaghi, Pellegri and Quagliata gave Italy the points they needed to qualify for the final phase. On Tuesday, at the Nereo Rocco, they will have the chance to repeat the feat. 

THE SQUAD LIST

Goalkeepers: Sebastiano Desplanches (Palermo), Jacopo Sassi (Modena), Gioele Zacchi (Latina);
Defenders: Nicolò Bertola (La Spezia), Giovanni Bonfanti (Pisa), Pietro Comuzzo (Fiorentina), Daniele Ghilardi (Hellas Verona), Marco Palestra (Atalanta), Lorenzo Pirola (Olympiacos), Nicolò Savona (Juventus), Riccardo Turicchia (Catanzaro), Mattia Zanotti (Lugano);
Midfielders: Tommaso Baldanzi (Roma), Alessandro Bianco (Monza), Edoardo Bove (Fiorentina), Cesare Casadei (Chelsea), Giovanni Fabbian (Bologna), Jacopo Fazzini (Empoli), Cher Ndour (Besiktas), Matteo Prati (Cagliari);
Fowards: Giuseppe Ambrosino (Frosinone), Francesco Pio Esposito (Spezia), Wilfried Gnonto (Leeds), Luca Koleosho (Burnley), Antonio Raimondo (Venice)