Giorgio Scalvini had to say goodbye to the European dream a few minutes before the end of the season. In the match against Fiorentina, which arrived outside the maximum time because there were no slots to recover it earlier, the defender born in 2003 recovered the rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament of the left knee. A very serious injury that will force him to tear up the plane ticket to Germany, but also to miss all the races in 2024.
For Luciano Spalletti it’s another tile to deal with less than two weeks after his debut against Albania. An injury that leaves some wounds especially because it arrived in a match already scheduled outside the maximum time which, moreover, had nothing to add to the Serie A already archived. Scalvini was used from the start against Fiorentina and the injury materialized in the 83rd minute: after Acerbi, another defender forced to raise the white flag close to the European Championship.
Now Italy’s coach is at a crossroads. Last Friday, the day after the news of the defection of the Inter centre-back, the coach told the other defenders in a press conference that he didn’t feel safe in view of the cut just because a centre-back had passed away: “It doesn’t mean that since he is Acerbi is out, a player with experience and part of a team that can give us something, a midfielder or a forward is necessarily out. There are several defenders, cuts can come from any department.”
According to these statements, the first path leads to the confirmation of those who are already in Coverciano, further limiting the cut that will take place on Thursday. Should Spalletti not add anyone to the pre-call-up list, on Thursday he would find himself removing only two players: the fourth goalkeeper and an outfield player. A possible choice, also because in the tactical tests of recent days, even without Acerbi and Scalvini, Spalletti has always had two players available for each position also in defence: Di Lorenzo, Mancini, Bastoni on the one hand, Darmian, Buongiorno and Calafiori on the other. In addition to Dimarco, Cambiaso and Bellanova, full-back wingers who in the case of a four-man defense (especially the first two) are regularly used as full-backs.
The second path, the one with an extra defender, leads to the call-up of Federico Gatti. Already alerted by the coach after Acerbi’s injury, the Juventus defender has been training alone in Turin since last Thursday while waiting for news from Coverciano. News that will arrive today: in the next few hours Luciano Spalletti will dissolve his reservations on this issue.
