Italy begin the defence of their European Championship trophy with their first Euro 2024 Group B fixture against Albania on Saturday, June 15 at Signal Iduna Park stadium in Dortmund. Whilst much-changed in terms of personnel from three years ago and not amongst the immediate favourites for the tournament, Luciano Spalletti’s side will still carry a threat. Here is our Italy predicted lineup for Saturday’s opener.
Italy Predicted Lineup for Euro 2024 Opener vs Albania
How Italy Have Lined-up Recently
Italy have been unpredictable in their formation of late, playing 3-4-2-1, 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 in recent games as Luciano Spalletti looks for maximum tactical flexibility. Gianluigi Donnarumma is the starting goalkeeper, with Tottenham Hotspur’s Guglielmo Vicario as his understudy. Giovanni Di Lorenzo is the starting right-back, with Matteo Darmian as backup. Torino’s Andrea Buongiorno is a mainstay at centre-back, flanked by either Gianluca Mancini, Francesco Acerbi, Alessandro Bastoni or Bologna’s Juventus-bound starlet Riccardo Calafiori. Inter’s Federico Dimarco is the starting left-back.
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Depending on formation, the midfield will likely consist of two or three of Jorginho, Nicolo Fagioli, Nicolo Barella (Fitness permitting) and Bryan Cristante.
In attacking midfield, Spalletti will choose from the likes of Federico Chiesa, Lorenzo Pelligrini, Giacomo Raspadori, Mattia Zaccagni, Michael Fulrunsho, Stephen El Shaarawy and Davide Frattesi.
Up front, former West Ham striker Gianluca Scamacca will likely start up front. Competition is provided by Genoa’s Matteo Retegui.
Italy Recent Form And Tactics
The Azzurri‘s recent form in friendlies has been good, with wins over Venezuela, Ecuador and Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as a 0-0 home draw with Turkey following a difficult Euro 2024 qualifying campaign in which the Italians finished a distant second to England and narrowly avoided a play-off situation after finishing level on points with Ukraine and drawing with them in the final qualifier.
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Manager Spalletti has emphasized tactical flexibility to compensate for an overall lack of quality compared to previous Italy squads, selecting players that can adapt to different systems with ease.
Italy Injuries To Consider
Italy’s main injury concerns ahead of the opener are in midfield, with key man Nicolo Barella a doubt with a muscle injury after missing both warm-up games. Nicolo Fagioli is also a doubt with a minor knock picked up in the 1-0 win over Bosnia.
Italy Predicted Lineup
GK: Gianluigi Donnarumma
RCB: Alessandro Bastoni
CB: Alessandro Buongiorno
LCB: Andrea Cambiaso
RWB: Giovanni Di Lorenzo
LWB: Federico Dimarco
CM: Jorginho
CM: Bryan Cristante
CM: Davide Frattesi
CF: Federico Chiesa
ST: Gianluca Scamacca
