His European Championship is at a turning point because after two games without scoring, Italy needs the best Scamacca. Spalletti reflects whether to use him from the first minute again tomorrow against Croatia or whether to field Retegui in his place, the favorite at the moment, but in the meantime the Atalanta striker is trying to recharge his head, to remove from his mind the waste accumulated in the match against Spain, when he was replaced after having played a performance with a couple of flashes and many, too many, breaks. Certainly so far Gianluca has not been the dominant center forward who dragged the Dea to Italy and Europe in the last two months of the season. And the time available to him is starting to run out since it’s (almost) now or never.
Abstinence
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The numbers say that there is a Scamacca who plays with the Atalanta shirt and one who wears the Italy one. Of course it is the same player, but the performance is different. In fact, diametrically opposite. With the Goddess Scamacca ended 2023-24 with 19 centers and scored 10 after Spalletti did not call him up, to send him a message (remember the story of the PlayStation used at night), on the occasion of the March tour in the United States. From then on Gianluca never stopped and scored 6 goals in Serie A, 3 in the Europa League and one in the Italian Cup. He seemed ready to play a great European Championship and in the Bologna test against Bosnia, although it ended without a goal, he moved well. However, against Albania and Spain he was left without a goal and in blue he has not been able to beat the opposing goalkeeper since 17 October, i.e. since the match lost at England’s home ground.
WHAT HAPPEN?
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With Albania Scamacca remained on the pitch for 83 minutes, collected one shot saved, one outside and one blocked, completed 10 passes, but missed 6, made 2 saves and created 2 scoring chances. In general he gave the feeling of being little involved in the game. Even worse with Spain when the minutes played were reduced to 64, exactly like the passes completed (6). However, the number of missed passes (7) and turnovers (9, up from 6 on his debut) increased. The voice of the conclusions towards the mirror or in the mirror is merciless: 0. It is clear that this cannot be the “real” Scamacca, the striker that Gasperini relaunched after a complicated year at West Ham due to the knee operation . The feeling is that he is not yet “in” Spalletti’s football, that he is unable to satisfy the coach’s requests. Also because that adjective (“Lazy”) with which the former Napoli coach had labeled him in the past is came back into fashion when Lucio answered a question about Morata, on the eve of the confrontation with the Iberians. “Morata is not lazy and attacks the depth. If you continually sprint to the offside line, if you do it 10 times and not 5, there is a difference.” Scamacca accepted the criticism with gritted teeth, after he thought he had closed the topic by admitting: “Spalletti gives many meanings to this word. He certainly stimulated and encouraged me.”
NOW OR NEVER’
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Spalletti now has to decide whether to use him from the start against Croatia or whether, as he seems inclined to do, prefer Retegui. People close to Scamacca describe him as not satisfied with the direction the European Championship has taken, but they are convinced that Gianluca can still make a change in the tournament. Of him and of Italy. Maybe against Dalic’s team he will be the protagonist and then drag the Azzurri into the direct elimination phase. The people who love him and the Azzurri fans hope so. Him too. But now he needs a spark. Spalletti’s choices allowing…
