Italy tested their line-up ahead of the World Cup play-off against North Macedonia with a makeshift defence, Domenico Berardi, Ciro Immobile and Lorenzo Insigne upfront.
It kicks off at the Stadio Barbera in Palermo on Thursday at 20.00 GMT.
The winners will go through to face either Portugal or Turkey for a spot at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Roberto Mancini had his final training session at the Coverciano ground today, as they are travelling to Palermo tomorrow.
Leonardo Bonucci is still out of action, while his Juventus teammate Giorgio Chiellini will probably be rested ahead of the final.
Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Leonardo Spinazzola are unavailable due to injury, so Alessandro Florenzi and Emerson Palmieri are expected to start, with Gianluca Mancini and Alessandro Bastoni in the centre.
The midfield is first choice, with Nicolò Barella, Jorginho and Marco Verratti.
Immobile will get the nod ahead of Andrea Belotti and Gianluca Scamacca, with Berardi of Sassuolo and Napoli captain Insigne completing the trident.
Italy probable (4-3-3): Donnarumma; Florenzi, Mancini, Bastoni, Emerson; Barella, Jorginho, Verratti; Berardi, Immobile, Insigne
#Nazionale 🇮🇹
📹 Gli #Azzurri in azione oggi a #Coverciano 👊🏻
#VivoAzzurro #WCQ pic.twitter.com/ncZCv6v4jl— Nazionale Italiana ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@Azzurri) March 22, 2022
The Bastoni & Mancini CB pairing is intriguing. Only wish they had more experience together.
Still scratching my head at Florenzi over Calabria and DeSciglio.
FORZA AZZURRI
Why not Acerbi with one of the young CBs, honestly these 2 together first time for an elimination game scares the poopies out of me……..
Brandon – Mancini and Bastoni played regularly together for U21 team. Personally not hugely worried about individual performances from them but from a Leadership perspective there is going to be a huge gap and the likes of Barella, Jorginho and Veratti going to have to make up for missing Leo/Capitano.
Acerbi should not even be in squad, he’s been woeful for Italy this season and not that much better for Lazio. Ferrari is extremely unlucky to not be in the squad IMO.
Full backs really does not make sense to me, although i’ll say Florenzi owes Italy a performance.
I would not play Insigne, Pellegrini on the right instead and move Berardi to the left.
For some reason i have a feeling that while things are quiet for Ciro in SerieA at moment, he might just deliver this week. Fingers are crossed.
Wow, didn’t realize Acerbi has been that bad, if so, my bad.
Belotti really? cmon this is just brutal play thr in form players . And change up 4–3-3 to 3-5-2 we have so many good midfielders put 5 in middle
Scamacca berardi
pellegrini Jorginho barella locatelli
Verratti
Emerson bastioni Mancini
@Marco Milan
Mancini isn’t young, though he hasn’t played much international games. Those 2 are probably the best bet.
No idea why Calabria isn’t there over De Sciglio
I’m not worried about Florzenzi-Mancini-Bastoni-Emerson on defense. North Macedonia will probably try to attack because Mancini-Bastoni are inexperienced. Hopefully they’ll (North Macedonia) get burned early. Immobile might do well this game. Maybe 2+ goals. 🙂
there are bigger problems than the backline pairing if Italy can’t beat North Macedonia.
The lineup seems okay, but who are the Italy players who tested positive for Covid?
If most of these can play, then it’s fine, if not, it can get tricky.
Ciro and his inconsistency with the Azzurri. Time to let go of him .
Let’s be real here, how are you going to question a head coach who hasn’t lost but one game in three years, went 37 games in a row without a loss , Setting the world record for consecutive games by a national team was out a loss !!! Jesus people, have some faith !!! Pun intended. It’s not even a question in my mind that we’re going to beat North Macedonia , it’s the next game that concerns me , but I have all the faith in the world in Roberto Mancini , I have from the moment he took over and turned this nightmare of a National team into a €EURO 2020 championship squad !!! enough said !!!viva Italia !!! Forza Azzurri !!!
Only way Italy goes to Worldcup is if Ciro delivers like he does for lazio…
I agree with Ermanno. We must have faith in Mancio. As mentioned, he wants players that can play in different roles just in case. This is very important when you have two very important games. Lets just try to win the semi and then hopefully concentrate on the final. The pressure will be on us tomorrow as Nth Macedonia will try to frustrate us. We must play first touch football and fast. We must not play slow and predictable as it will only help Nth Macedonia. It is a shame that one of the best countries in football in this pool will not be going. As an Italian, I hope it will be us going to Qatar but lets first win tomorrow. Forza Italia, sempre avanti.