Ciro Immobile warns Italy against underestimating Albania – “they got to the Euros, it won’t be a walk in the park”.
The Azzurri take on Luigi De Canio’s side in Palermo on Friday night, as they look to keep pace with Spain in the race for World Cup qualification.
Both sides sit level on 10 points at the top of Group G, with Israel a point behind, so any slip-up could prove costly.
Ciro Immobile warns Italy against underestimating Albania – “they got to the Euros, it won’t be a walk in the park”.
The Azzurri take on Luigi De Canio’s side in Palermo on Friday night, as they look to keep pace with Spain in the race for World Cup qualification.
Both sides sit level on 10 points at the top of Group G, with Israel a point behind, so any slip-up could prove costly.
“They got to the European Championships, it won’t be a walk in the park,” Immobile warned in a Press conference at Coverciano today.
“They’ll cling on to the result with their teeth and their fingernails, we need to give our all. Anyone who goes onto the pitch will give their best, we’ll definitely be willing to suffer from attack to defence.
“Gianlugi Buffon has praised the strength of the team? If he says that, I’d never contradict him. We’re just focused on our objective, it would be a disappointment not to get to the World Cup.
“We just need to work hard, as we’re doing.”
Immobile and Andrea Belotti have 43 goals between them this season, can they fire Italy to Russia?
“We know we’ve done well, but let’s keep focused because without the team we can’t go anywhere.
“We’ve started perfectly in these two days, we’ll continue to work well.
“Belotti and I room together, so we do everything together – apart from showering and personal things! I hope Belotti wins the Capocannoniere.
“It’s a unique feeling to win it, although the year I did it I only got 22 goals. I’m on 17, so I’ll do my best to try and reduce the gap.”
The striker was also asked about his club situation at Lazio, but was in no mood to discuss Europa League ambitions.
“We weren’t favoured at the start because of the chaos with [Marcelo] Bielsa,” Immobile pointed out.
“Since [Simone] Inzaghi joined things have been fixed. [Igli] Tare, [Claudio] Lotito and [Angelo] Peruzzi are doing a great job behind the scenes. Nobody expected this, even us.
“I’m convinced that hard work always pays off, there are two steps to go for the Coppa Italia and several games for the World Cup.
“The Europa League? When we’re here we train twice a day, we talk about Albania. I’ll only speak about the national team, we’re 100 per cent focused on Friday.”