FLORENCE – Luciano Spalletti she would only give up on him if she saw him on crutches and raising the white flag. The fact is that three days before leaving for Germany Nicolò Barellathe absolute leader of this Italy team, continues not to train with his teammates: even yesterday, at the restart in Coverciano after a day and a half of rest, the midfielder, a key player for Inter and the national team, carried out treatments, therapies and differentiated work for his fatigue in his right rectus femoris which stopped him on the eve of Tuesday’s friendly match in Bologna with Turkey.
The concerns of Gravina and Buffon
The coach appears moderately calm (this is how he defines himself to those who ask him about Barella) but due to the player’s importance and with the European Championship now upon us, the situation must be monitored carefully. He admits it Gabriele Gravina, while avoiding any alarmism for now. «Barella worries us a little but not excessively. Let’s say we await it with great anxiety» the words of the federal president yesterday in Parma at the Serie A Festival. Dispensing pills of optimism, on the same stage, the head of the Italian delegation Gigi Buffon: «Talking with Spalletti and with the boys I gave the example of Gattuso to the 2006 World Cup: they wanted to send him home at all costs, he replied “Don’t kick me out”. He missed the first match but from the second, after the expulsion of de RossiRino entered and was the absolute protagonist». Mashed potato Marco Verrattiin the last European Championship won by Italy in 2021, he remained out in the first matches and then provided a decisive contribution to the conquest of the continental title: for the record, Barella, one of the 9 European champions, was also in that Italian team confirmed in the current group assembled for the competition which will start on June 14th in Germany.
Spalletti’s optimism
«In the next few hours Nicolò could carry out some decisive tests to understand the precise extent of the problem», he adds Buffon while injuries would have been ruled out by the Inter clan. The midfielder, fresh from yet another season pushed to the max and crowned with the Scudetto, trained in the first few days in Coverciano before stopping. Right away Spallettiwho has already had to give up Acerbi and Scalvini and keeps the grenade Ricci on early warning, tried to send reassuring messages: «I trust my doctors a lot and they told me that Nicolò will be there for the match on 15 June against Albania». It’s not easy to give up on someone who has been a cornerstone of the national team for a long time, even after Donnarumma (61) is the player with the most appearances (53, one more than Jorginho). Not only: Stretcher he is also the one who has scored the most goals of the current group assembled to defend the title in Germany. It is no coincidence that the coach said about him a few days ago: «Pilgrims he can be a 10 but so can Barella, because he has the plays that take you by surprise, he passes things where many see walls». Honey declarations, assuming that the good Nicolò, who has just become a father for the fourth time (after three girls, a boy, Romeo, has arrived) still needs it given that his great technical and driving qualities have been proclaimed for some time. «Without Nicolò, Italy would lose a lot – he remarks Beppe Bergomi to Sky – The group needs personalities and those who know how to win, exactly like him. It would be difficult to replace him even if there is no shortage of resources in midfield. Would I take him to the European Championship anyway? If there was the possibility of missing just one match I would have no doubts, I would risk bringing someone like Barella even if not 100%».
