Update Saturday 3.10pm – Bastoni should make it – Less than three hours before kick-off there is confidence in the possibility of fielding Alessandro Bastoni: the left-footed defender is better and should make it.
Update Saturday 13.00 – Evaluations on Bastoni in progress. There are two doubts that Luciano Spalletti will resolve immediately before the match. On the one hand, that of the centre-forward, with Scamacca and Retegui on the ballot, on the other, that linked to the conditions of Bastoni who has been struggling with a feverish attack for two days: if the Inter defender is unable to be in the match, there will be room for Buongiorno. This morning the team underwent muscle toning in the hotel and held the technical meeting a few hours before the match.
Probable Italy lineup (4-3-3) – Donnarumma; Di Lorenzo, Mancini, Bastoni (Good morning), Darmian; Cristante, Fagioli, Barella; Chiesa, Scamacca (Retegui), El Shaarawy. Technical Commissioner: Luciano Spalletti.
Update Friday 19.55 – Spalletti: “Mancini in place of Calafiori. Scamacca-Retegui doubtful in attack. During the press conference the day before, Luciano Spalletti gave some formation indications: “Does Scamacca play tomorrow? It remains to be seen, it’s the only doubt I have. But there won’t be one left out between Scamacca and Retegui, they both give great solutions and we just need to understand who to play first and who to play after.”
How is the situation in defense? Who will replace Calafiori?
“Bastoni will have to be seen tomorrow, Dimarco will not be there. Bastoni has had a bit of a fever again, we fixed him and he was much better today. We’ll have to see what response he will get tonight. Mancini will play in place of Calafiori, he has the right amount of experience and in this case I want to play with a right-footer on the right and a left-footer on the left. I prefer it this way”. In defence, should Bastoni’s condition worsen tomorrow, space will be given to Buongiorno.
Update Friday 18.50 – Spalletti: “Dimarco is out”. And confirms the four-man defense. Luciano Spalletti confirmed in the one-to-one on the eve that Federico Dimarco will not be in the game: “Bastoni trained and made us breathe a sigh of relief. Dimarco is out, he is not recoverable. We will play with something that resembles a four-man defense, but we will try to be more offensive than what we have done so far. There are young people who are pushing to play and we need to find space for them, like Fagioli. We need to have courage”.
Update Friday 14.20 – Federico Dimarco is unlikely to be available for the match against Switzerland. Dealing with a calf bruise suffered in the match against Spain, the national team full-back was deployed against Croatia from the first minute, but didn’t seem 100% and was recalled to the bench at the start of the second half. In recent days Dimarco has continued with his recovery program, but he is not yet at his best and today too he carried out differentiated work. Without the Inter side, and without a replacement with the same characteristics as him, Spalletti, after having insisted on a three-man defense for several days, is seriously considering the possibility of returning to a four-man defence. It was tested today, with Matteo Darmian replacing his teammate and Gianluca Mancini confirmed at center for the suspended Calafiori. Alessandro Bastoni should be on the pitch regularly, despite a bit of fever which forced him to do gym work today in the first part of training.
For the center forward role, Gianluca Scamacca is likely to return from 1′ but Giacomo Raspadori and Mateo Retegui have also been tried out. Federico Chiesa will be there, Stephan El Shaarawy competes for the other place behind the first striker Lorenzo Pellegrini. In the middle of the field together with the untouchable Barella two shirts for three places: Cristante, Jorginho and Fagioli in contention.
