After the triumph at Wembley, Italy are now on the hunt for another trophy. Next week, Italy will host the UFA Nations League finals, with matches set to be played in Milan and Turin. On Wednesday 6 October, Italy take on Spain in a replay of the EURO 2020 semi-final, while reigning world champions France face Belgium at the Juventus Stadium in Turin on Thursday. The Nations League trophy, which was won by Portugal in the first edition of the tournament, will be given out on Sunday evening in Milan, though not before the bronze-medal game in Turin in the afternoon. The excitement is building for the match against La Furia Roja, with over 22,000 tickets sold already (of a maximum of 37,000) and could well sell out by Monday.

Italy head coach Roberto Mancini today named his final 23-man squad for the finals, 22 of whom were part of the EURO-winning squad in the summer; Roma midfielder Lorenzo Pellegrini joins the squad. It will be possible to replace players right up until the start of the first match in case of injury or positive Covid tests.

The Azzurri will meet on Sunday evening at the Suning Training Centre in Appiano Gentile and will stay in Milan until after the game against Spain when they will move the camp down to Coverciano to prepare for Sunday’s game – based on the semi-final result.

ITALY VS. SPAIN. Italy and Spain have met 38 times in total, with the Azzurri having won eleven, drawn 16 and lost eleven of those fixtures. In terms of encounters in Italy, the Azzurri have the edge with five wins compared to two. Eight draws complete the picture. Spain, meanwhile, have generally had the upper hand when they’ve played on home soil (six victories compared to one Italy win). The National Team are set to play for the 58th time in Milan, the city where they first took to the pitch (15 May 1910, a 6-2 victory over France at the Arena Civica) and played in blue (against Hungary in 1911) after previously wearing white. Italy haven’t lost in Milan for 93 years and are unbeaten in 28 games at the Meazza. However, they’ve drawn their last five matches there, including the playoff showdown against Sweden, when a 0-0 stalemate meant they missed out on the 2018 World Cup. The team’s last victory in Milan came on 16 October 2012, when Montolivo, De Rossi and Balotelli scored in a 3-1 success against Denmark. Italy vs. Spain has taken place in the city three times: there have been two draws (1924 and 1980) and an Azzurri win (4-0 in 1942).

AZZURRI RECORDS. With their victory over Lithuania, Italy extended their unbeaten run to 37 games. It represents the longest streak in history, with Spain (35 between 2007 and 2009) and Brazil (35 between 1993 and 1995, with an unofficial match not counted) following behind. It’s another world record for Mancini’s men, who previously reached 1168 minutes without conceding (Italy held the record before this: 1134 minutes in 1974) and achieved another first by winning 15 successive Euro matches, qualifying included. Furthermore, they won 13 consecutive fixtures between November 2020 and July 2021, which is a national record. The Azzurri have also gone 22 games without defeat at home, which is an improvement on 21 matches under Bearzot. In 42 matches since the Mancini era began, Italy have won 29, drawn eleven and lost just twice. This means, on average, they’ve picked up 2.33 points per game (98 in total), which represents yet another record and puts the current Head Coach ahead of Pozzo (2.16) and Sacchi (2.13) in this particular leaderboard. Finally, under Mancini, Italy have moved from 20th to 5th in the World Ranking and have extended their streak of 61 home matches without defeat (excluding friendlies): since a 3-2 loss to Denmark in Naples in Euro 2000 qualifying on 8 September 1999, the Azzurri have won 46 and drawn 13 in competitive fixtures.

In three years, Mancini has called up 78 players, 68 of whom he’s sent out to play. Bonucci has made the most appearances (34, for a total of 2,915 minutes), followed by Jorginho (33, although he’s actually played the most minutes – 2,952). There have been 36 debutants, with Scamacca being the last one in September. On an individual level, Bonucci became the Italian who has played the most European Championship matches (18, ahead of Buffon and Chiellini on 17), while Chiellini moved ahead of Zoff in the all-time Azzurri appearance ranking (113, meaning he’s currently in sixth place). With 16 goals, Immobile is currently the most prolific player in the Italy setup.

TICKETING.  Tickets for the finals of the Nations League are on sale via UEFA.com. Italian authorities have confirmed that games will be played at 50& of the stadiums’ max capacity (37,000 for Milan, 20,000 for Turin). Over 22,000 tickets have already been sold for the semi-final between Italy and Spain, while half of the tickets are still available for France vs. Belgium on Thursday. Fans can purchase up to two tickets.

The pricing is as follows:

Stadio San Siro, Milan: Category 3: 10€, Category 2: 30€. Category 1: 70€. Disabled: 10€ (ticket priced at Category 3 with one ticket provided for free for a carer).

Juventus Stadium, Turin: Category 3: 10€, Category 2: 20€. Category 1: 40€. Disabled: 10€ (ticket priced at Category 3 with one ticket provided for free for a carer).

LOGO. On Monday 4 October at the Garage Italia in Milan, the institutional logo of the FIGC – created by design agency Independent Ideas – will be unveiled. The FIGC president Gabriele Gravina and the president of the Laps Foundation and Independent Ideas Lapo Elkann will take part in the presentation.

SQUAD LIST

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint-Germain), Alex Meret (Napoli), Salvatore Sirigu (Genoa);
Defenders: Francesco Acerbi (Lazio), Alessandro Bastoni (Inter), Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Emerson Palmieri (Lione), Rafael Toloi (Atalanta);
Midfielders: Nicolò Barella (Inter), Bryan Cristante (Roma), Jorginho (Chelsea), Manuel Locatelli (Juventus), Lorenzo Pellegrini (Roma), Matteo Pessina (Atalanta), Marco Verratti (Paris Saint-Germain);
Attackers: Domenico Berardi (Sassuolo), Federico Bernardeschi (Juventus), Federico Chiesa (Juventus), Ciro Immobile (Lazio), Lorenzo Insigne (Napoli), Giacomo Raspadori (Sassuolo).

THE SCHEDULE (all times CEST)

Sunday 3 October
Meeting and molecular test at Appiano Gentile
Monday 4 October
13:45 – Player press conference (online)*
17:30 – Training (closed)**
18:30 –  Presentation of the FIGC institutional logo
Tuesday 5 October
15:45 – ITALY press conference (online/UEFA) at the Stadio Meazza in Milan
16:30 – ITALY training (open to the media for the first 15 minutes) at the Stadio Meazza
17:45 – SPAIN press conference (online/UEFA) at the Stadio Meazza
18:30 - SPAIN training (open to the media for the first 15 minutes) at the Stadio Meazza
Wednesday 6 October
20:45 – ITALY VS. SPAIN (UNL semi-final) at the Stadio Meazza in Milan. Followed by a press conference and transfer to Coverciano
Thursday 7 October
Time TBD – Training (closed)** at Covericano
Friday 8 October
Time TBD– Player press conference (online)* at Coverciano
Saturday 9 October
Time TBD – Transfer from Florence to X
Time TBD – ITALY press conference (online/UEFA)
Time TBD – ITALY training (open to the media for the first 15 minutes)
Time TBD – X press conference
Time TBD – X training (open to the media for the first 15 minutes)
Sunday 10 October
ITALY VS. X. Followed by a press conference and a return to the respective clubs

*The media, broadcasters and photographers will not be present at the two sports centres: press conferences will take place via Zoom and it will be necessary to book a place via the FIGC Accreditations portal. In order to be granted access, you will need to register your name, surname and a photo.

**FIGC will distribute images of press conferences and training to photographers that possess accreditations for the match. FIGC will provide videos and distribute images relating to: i) Press conferences and ii) Daily training sessions. To activate the service please contact Massimiliano Reale (FIGC Area Sales): email: m.reale@figc.it Tel.: 06.8491.3023.