A win or a draw to stay in Germany to defend the European title won at Wembley three years ago. Italy’s match in Leipzig on Monday 24 June against Croatia, in the Azzurri’s last match in group B of the Euro 2024 group stage, will be another last resort, as has already happened in the past between World Cups and continental tournaments, in which Luciano Spalletti’s team, fresh from the defeat against Spain, will have to keep their nerve and not be overwhelmed by the fear of not being able to reach the round of 16. Qualification which could also come in the event of defeat if the Azzurri manage to finish among the best four third-placed national teams in their respective groups: in this case, however, we would first have to wait for the result of Spain-Albania and then see how they will place the other third-placed teams. Giving the energy to the Azzurri on the day after in Gelsenkirchen and in view of the decisive match in Leipzig is someone who knows how to do it, namely the world champion and now head of the Italian delegation, Gianluigi Buffon.
Luciano Spalletti
“With Croatia there must be no fear, you can get the right pre-match anxiety, but if someone is afraid they must think that when they go on the pitch they have the opportunity to show off their talent. We do a wonderful job – he remembers the former goalkeeper of the Italian national team – and everyone would like to be in our place even in such a delicate match”. Match for which Spalletti could field another starting line-up different from the one seen with Albania and Spain. Cristante is always the option in midfield, while in attack it is not certain that the coach will think about changing after the lackluster performances of Scamacca and Chiesa. Meanwhile, after today’s training and the practice match of the less used players against the youngsters of Borussia Dortmund, the afternoon was dedicated to a free outing with their respective families. For Buffon, what we will see against Modric and his teammates will be a different Italy compared to the defeatist and dominated one by Spain: “It’s true that we have two results out of three, but this is not a thought that the coach or the boys will want to think about, the first the thought is to find certain certainties in ourselves after last night’s skid and I am convinced that we will have another type of race and we will stay here talking about something else.
Will Croatia have an extra day of rest? I think it will be a different match – explains the world champion and head of the Italian delegation – with different rhythms also due to the individual characteristics of his players. And the talent will probably be more or less the same even if Spain has something more. It will be a match that we will play and we can play to the best of our ability with the knowledge that we can achieve a good result. Then with Albania – concludes Buffon – we were good at making them look like a lower level team. We then saw it with Croatia how it preformed by giving different answers. Yesterday the difficulties we had made us seem lower than the level we thought.”
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