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Football Italia is among the accredited media at Coverciano today and will be covering Luciano Spalletti’s press conference live.
Italy coach Spalletti will address the media at a press conference this afternoon at Italy’s training ground, Coverciano, in Florence.
Later this week, the Azzurri will visit Belgium and host France at San Siro in their final Nations League group stage matches.
The game against Belgium is on Thursday, November 14, while the France game is on Sunday, November 17.
Spalletti has named a 23-man squad for the two fixtures, giving Nicolò Rovella, Nicolò Savona and Pietro Comuzzo their first senior call-ups.
Nicolò Barella returns to the squad for the first time since last summer’s Euros.
The Inter midfield star missed games in September and October due to a minor injury and nose surgery.
Following Spalletti’s press conference, which you can follow live below, the Azzurri will train at Coverciano for the first time in the November break.
Italy’s training session will start soon.
“That’s what I said at the beginning. We must make sure they don’t become arrogant. He can be similar, they have the same name…I wish him to become like Vierchowod, but for now, we should enjoy him.”
“I haven’t changed much. We’ve called players who deserve it, and we must find out how strong they are. You mentioned Comuzzo and Savona. One plays for Fiorentina, who are close to the top of the table. The other one plays for Juventus. Those are not experiments. It’s clear to see the team’s core; we haven’t changed much.”
“We’ve found some solutions, and we must continue this way. I think football is giving more and more chances to young players, so we must give space to these lads who are playing consistently. I think we are in good shape.”
“When Bastoni plays for Inter, he shows that he can be an added striker, as Calafiori has done in that role. Buongiorno…I appreciated his strength yesterday against two strikers like Thuram and Lautaro. I’m not worried. Buongiorno is a great defender, and Bastoni knows how to build up and replicate what Calafiori has done. Gatti is improving because we questioned his quality in the build-up, but now he does it well. We are pretty calm.
“We’ve picked two central midfielders, Rovella and Locatelli, who are doing so well. I’ve picked Locatelli because I see he’s doing things that he didn’t do before. I have nothing against him. Rovella deserved to come here for what he’s doing. We’ll see after the game if they are on the same level as the others. They deserve this chance.”
“We must build new stadiums; it’s no longer possible to see stadiums like those we have. There are amazing stadiums in the Champions League, and we must catch the others on the pitch and in terms of stadiums. It’s fundamental for many things. Foreign investors want to invest in football and this can pave the way for other situations.”
“We must prove to be sensitive people and when possible try to help those who need it in any way. Not be superficial and always give signals that all the good things we have around us and all the passion for football are given to serious people who deserve it and not spoiled kids.”
“After the Swiss defeat, you asked me: ‘What will you do?’ Actually, the first question was whether I’d stay or leave. I replied that I wanted to rejuvenate the team. Do you remember? I decided to stay, and I had to bring ideas forward and explain my choices. Everyone is focused at the moment and doesn’t accept that the level of Italian football is the one described in the past. They want to highlight the level of our football and we must support them and enhance their talent.”
“Kean and the group have followed a similar trajectory. It’s been a rapid growth that highlighted the idea of having quality. He sends strong signals when he plays. The same thing has happened to the rest of the team.”
SAVONA – “I’m curious to know him. He’s an emerging player and a Juventus starter. He runs forward and has also played as a centre-back in a three-man defence. He may replace Di Lorenzo, by instance. He has great footballing and personal qualities.”
“Pietro has a great quality. He’s very focused. He has physicality. He’s a strong centre-back and is good in the build-up. He has a big personality despite being very young. We don’t want to suffocate the talent. A defender can have talent, not just No.9s or 10s. Those who stop or limit their opponents are talented.”
ROMA – “First of all, I am sorry. I fell in love with many things, and I gave them my all. I find it reductive to talk about what’s happening. It would be too easy. I prefer not to make more messes and be quiet, but I think they have the team to turn things around. I think it’s a good team.”
“It’s easy to explain why they can play together. Kean has also played as a winger who creates danger with his pace and physicality. Retegui is a classic centre-forward. He’s one of those players who knows where the goalkeeper is despite not looking at the goal. He’s so good inside the box. Kean has shown this, too. He scored in any way yesterday. They say he’s complete. So Retegui can play as a centre forward with Kean moving around him.
“Kean has a little problem, but it didn’t get worse after the match, so we’ll manage it, and we’ll try to put everyone in the best condition to do well. It’s also important to have an option during the match.”
La prima tripletta di Moise Kean. ⚽️⚽️⚽️#FiorentinaVerona pic.twitter.com/KmQYndSstp
— ACF Fiorentina (@acffiorentina) November 11, 2024
“The first thing we must do is not have this mentality. Belgium are ahead of us in the UEFA ranking. They have footballers in the best European clubs. If one gets relaxed, he should go home. We have two tough games ahead of us. We must not be arrogant. The group is perfect in terms of attitude.”
“There are stats called danger index. We spent longer on the edge of the opponents’ box than the teams we faced. We’ve tripled the stats for re-aggression and winning second balls. We must do it again, and it’s never easy because opponents are truly strong. Some of their members were surprised to lose against us because they thought only two or three Italian players could be on their team.”
“Ricci goes home. We’ve started this relationship with the clubs. We’ve done this with everyone. It would have been very difficult to recover him for the first match. We need two central midfielders for the first game. So he goes home, and somebody else will come. Locatelli will come. He’ll be here for dinner.”
“We must be consistent. There isn’t much time, so we must highlight and resume things we did during the Euros and the Nations League. There’s been a change, a difference, which is mostly their merit. Buffon told them this morning that one of the important qualities is that they’ve regained awareness of their quality and strength. It’s evident that they are calm now. We are happy they’ve taken on this tactical system. They are convinced about it. Football evolves continuously, and they know how to adapt to opponents. I told the players we must be perfectly undisciplined.”
“I congratulated the players this morning. They are playing good football, there is an excellent competition that gives motivation to everyone. We’ve watched great games, like Inter-Napoli. There’s growth as a movement, so we can pick more players for the national team.”
RETEGUI AND KEAN – “They are doing what we hoped for. Kean is in great shape. I think he has clear qualities and some little issues, but we are very happy with his quality.”
The coach is here too. Ready to start.
Delegation chief Gigi Buffon has arrived to follow the press conference.
The press conference will begin shortly.