Francesco Acerbi has already been forced to withdraw from the Italy squad for EURO 2024, and the same is true of Giorgio Scalvini so what’s the situation concerning the Azzurri defenders less than two weeks before their debut in the competition?
Italy have lost Acerbi, one of the most experienced centre-backs in the country, for EURO 2024 and will be forced to cope without Scalvini as well.
Atalanta confirmed on Sunday night that their defender had suffered an ACL tear during the last game of the season against Fiorentina.
Italy Euro 2024: Double injury worry, defenders’ situation explained
Italy CT Spalletti put Juventus defender Gatti on alert last week when it was confirmed that Acerbi needed surgery for a groin issue.
However, the Bianconeri centre-back hasn’t yet joined his compatriots in Coverciano and has continued training in Turin, suggesting that Spalletti may not include him in the final 26-man squad list, which he will unveil on June 6.
Spalletti said at a press conference this past Friday that it was ‘not guaranteed’ that he’d only cut midfielders and strikers from his preliminary 30-man team, insisting that he had included many defenders in the preliminary squad.
The CT will talk to the media again on Monday afternoon on the eve of a friendly game against Turkey in Bologna.
Spalletti will reveal whether he will include a new defender on the team, whether Gatti will arrive in Coverciano, or whether none of this will happen.
Currently, the centre-backs who are part of the preliminary Azzurri squad training at Coverciano are Alessandro Bastoni (Inter), Matteo Darmian (Inter), Alessandro Buongiorno (Torino), Gianluca Mancini (Roma) and Riccardo Calafiori (Bologna) plus Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli) who can be deployed in a three-man defence.
A pointless game and and an Italian defender down already. It always happens like this.