For the first time at the UEFA EURO 2020 tournament, Roberto Mancini has a full squad to choose from, so Federico Chiesa and Giorgio Chiellini are pushing to start the quarter-final with Belgium.
The Azzurri finally had all 26 players available in training, because along with Chiellini, Alessandro Florenzi also returned from a muscular injury and took part in the full session.
It’s the first time this has happened at the competition, because Marco Verratti had been ruled out for the first two games against Turkey and Switzerland.
This gives Mancini plenty of options to consider for Friday’s quarter-final against Belgium in Munich and the biggest shifts ought to be in defence with Chiellini coming back for Francesco Acerbi, and Chiesa sending Domenico Berardi to the bench.
Belgium of course have their own injury concerns, as Kevin De Bruyne and Eden Hazard again did not take part in today’s session.
The Manchester City star could potentially make it for Friday after a knock to the ankle, but the Real Madrid man is unlikely to feature due to a muscular twinge.
Dries Mertens and Youri Tielemans spoke at press conferences, while Jorginho made his voice heard for Italy and shrugged off Ballon d’Or talk.
Slovenian referee Slavko Vincic was appointed to the big match in Munich, with German Bastian Dankert on VAR.