Mancini in place of Calafiori, Fagioli from the start, a sort of relay between Retegui and Scamacca and more El Shaarawy than Zaccagni.
Unlike what happened on the eve of the match against Croatia, before the round of 16 match against Switzerland, Luciano Spalletti revealed practically the entire lineup that will take to the field against Sommer and his teammates, with Dimarco unavailable due to a problem with his right calf and Bastoni able to recover from the fever that had struck him.
For the rest, compliments to the Swiss coach Murat Yakin and the desire to show a better Italy than the one seen up to now. In the training tests carried out today in Berlin, the coach lined up a four-man defense with Mancini and Bastoni in the center and Di Lorenzo and Darmian on the wings. Fagioli in place of Jorginho, in a three-man midfield with Barella and Cristante. Up front, Scamacca from the 1st minute, with Chiesa on the right and the new El Shaarawy on the left.
“Mancini will replace Calafiori,” Spalletti said at the end of the pre-match press conference at the Olympiastadion. “What if Scamacca plays? He’s a very clear player, he can score at any moment. He has flashes of brilliance that will tear you apart, I jokingly called him lazy, but then to show his qualities he has to be part of the team’s game and he’s struggling a bit with that. Whether he’ll play straight away or not is the only doubt I have,” Spalletti continued. “I have two strong players. Both he and Retegui will be part of the game, we’ll have to see who comes first and who comes after.” Tomorrow, many illustrious fans will be there to support the Azzurri at the match in Berlin, including the President of the Senate, Ignazio La Russa, the Minister for Sport and Youth, Andrea Abodi and the Ambassador to Berlin, Armando Varricchio. Present as usual were the president of the FIGC, Gabriele Gravina, but also the president of Inter, Beppe Marotta, and the number one of Lega Pro, Matteo Marani, as well as several former Azzurri players such as Marco Materazzi and Gianluca Zambrotta, world champions right here in the city of the wall.
“Everyone remembers when we won the final in Berlin, here Buffon made us relive those emotions. We also have this match to honour, it’s a great responsibility – underlined the Italian coach – To make the Italians proud we must do something better compared to what we have seen so far, now I expect to see them more relaxed. We have not been able to express the level we can express – he adds – but this qualification which came at the last second is deserved. On a psychological and personality level I expect something more than we have seen so far.” During training, coach Spalletti also had him try penalty shots, in view of the possibility that the match against him will not be decided within the 120th minute.
Among the players who tried to take penalties were Scamacca, Retegui and Jorginho, who missed two against Sommer in the World Cup qualifiers. The Italian captain and colleague Gianluigi Donnarumma praised the Inter goalkeeper: “I know Sommer well, he had a great championship, I congratulate him, he is an excellent goalkeeper, tomorrow we will have to be very good. I hope he does less tomorrow than he did this year”.
Donnarumma then spoke about the do-or-die match against Switzerland: “It will be a completely different match, we have to smooth out some of the situations we saw in the groups, we have to make as few mistakes as possible, we will definitely be ready – concluded the goalkeeper and Italy captain – The formation can be changed but the important thing is to be compact and dominate the game. Ours was a difficult group, it wasn’t easy to get through it. With Croatia we were good at staying in the game. Tomorrow will be a do-or-die match, we have to be good at making as few mistakes as possible. I am convinced that the team is ready”.
Probable Italy-Switzerland lineups
Italy (4-3-2-1): 1 Donnarumma, 2 Di Lorenzo, 23 Bastoni, 17 Mancini, 13 Darmian, 18 Barella, 21 Fagioli, 16 Cristante, 26 Chiesa, 22 El Shaarawy, 9 Scamacca. (12 Vicario, 26 Meret, 6 Gatti, 4 Buongiorno, 15 Bellanova, 24 Cambiaso, 25 Folorunsho, 8 Jorginho, 7 Frattesi, 10 Pellegrini, 20 Zaccagni, 19 Retegui 11 Raspadori). Coach: Spalletti. Injured: Dimarco Suspended: Calafiori Booked by booking: Cristante, Donnarumma, Fagioli, Pellegrini
Svizzera (3-4-3): 1 Sommer, 22 Schar, 5 Akanji, 13 Rodriguez, 2 Stergiou, 8 Freuler, 10 Xhaka, 20 Aebischer, 19 Ndoye, 17 Vargas, 7 Embolo. (12 Mvogo, 21 Kobel, 4 Elvedi, 6 Zakaria, 9 Okafor, 26 Rieder, 11 Steffen, 14 Zuber, 15 Zesiger, 16 Sierro, 23 Shaqiri, 25 Amdouni, 8 Duha, 24 Jashari). All.: Yakin. Infortunati: nessuno Squalificati: Widmer Diffidati: Freuler, Ndoye, Rodríguez, Sierro, Xhaka.
Arbitrator: Szymon Marciniak (Polonia). Quote Snai: 2.50; 2.85; 3.45.
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