Italy’s first training session at the Iserlohn stadium did not bring good news for Luciano Spalletti. Indeed… Nicolò Barella, out for days with a right rectus femoris muscle strain suffered in Coverciano, does not train with the group. Today he took to the pitch together with his teammates for a tour of the pitch which allowed the Azzurri to greet the fans and then returned to the changing rooms. He left after half an hour and together with an Italian athletic trainer and Doctor Carli went to another field where he began a series of exercises with the ball with reasonable intensity and with some sprints. However, Saturday’s match against Albania is less and less missing: tomorrow and Thursday’s sessions will be decisive in understanding whether he can recover 100% and be among the starters.
BEANS NOT AT THE TOP
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The news regarding Fagioli is not good either as he is not on the pitch for training this afternoon: the Juventus player remained in the gym due to a muscle strain suffered in Sunday’s match against Bosnia in which he was deployed alongside Jorginho in the middle to the field. The coach liked the double play solution. Between the two midfielders today Calafiori was advanced.
FRATTESI STOPS, but has faith
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And then there’s Frattesi who started the session by warming up with his teammates: some long runs, some short sprints, then he approached Spalletti and the two talked for a few seconds. When the team moved to the other half of the pitch to carry out exercises with the ball, Frattesi was no longer with his teammates. He went back into the locker room. For a physical problem? This would be very bad news given the goal scored on Sunday and the excellent form. In reality it seems that it was just a precaution: the Inter player has no physical problems, just a little tiredness. We will see…
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IS IT CRISTANTE’S TURN?
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At this point Spalletti’s options in the middle of the pitch are starting to run out: if Barella and Fagioli don’t recover, or aren’t at 100%, Luciano can aim to pair up with Jorginho on Cristante who has the “body” for aerial duels. The alternative is Pellegrini who on Sunday, when he came on, was used as a midfielder and not in the attacking midfield.
