The defending champions from Italy will have to do without two stoppers at the Euro. Who has coach Spalletti included in the squad?

Luciano Spalletti, coach of the Italian national football team, is recovering from a big slap. Two stoppers dropped out of his initial 30-man preliminary selection, which is a big complication before the final tournament. The Italian manager had to call up Juventus midfielder Federico Gatti.

Thirty-six-year-old Inter Milan stopper Francesco Acerbi has dropped out of the Italy squad because of a groin injury. The mainstay of the Nerazzurri’s back line has even undergone surgery. Acerbi has been one of the best defenders in Serie A this season and has proved his worth even in front of the opposition goal. In twenty-nine league games he has scored three goals and assisted one.

The experienced defender was supposed to be one of the cornerstones of the Azzurri back line, but someone else will have to take his place. Perhaps his club teammate Matteo Darmian, who plays more on the right, will take over the leadership role.

The big loss for Spalletti’s squad is the serious injury to one of the greatest talents in Italian football, Giorgio Scalvini. He tore his knee ligaments in the 38th round of the Italian top flight in his Atalanta’s match against Fiorentina and will be out for a long time. Scalvini won the Europa League this season with Atalanta.

A call-up to the national team has been extended to Juventus Torino’s twenty-five-year-old defender Federico Gatti, who was additionally called up in response to injuries to two players at one position. Gatti has scored four goals this season, which shows some promise. Towards the back, however, his performances have been somewhat weaker. Gatti earned a 6.8 grade for his performances in Serie A.

The change of system has borne fruit, will there be a change?

Spalletti abandoned his favoured 4-3-3 formation this season, which won him the title with Napoli. In the March pre-season games, he started to rely on a three-defender system, which bore immediate fruit and resulted in two wins. Specifically, a 2-0 win over Ecuador and a 2-1 win over Venezuela. The 3-4-2-1 formation can be expected to continue.

Who will replace Acerbi and Scalvini?

The squad still has a number of quality stoppers, such as Inter Milan stalwart Alessandro Bastoni, this season’s comet from Bologna Riccardo Calafiori or Alessandro Buongiorno, who despite his time at provincial FC Torino even appeared in one of the best line-ups of the season across the Top 5 competitions.

Not forgetting the aforementioned Darmian and Gatti, and AS Roma’s Mancini is also in the nomination. The withdrawal of Napoli captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo at right centre-half would not be a surprise either.

The Italians’ path to the defence has thus become more complicated, but they still have quality players in their ranks. Can the team from the Apennine peninsula reach the top this year?

Source: Italian national football team, X