Roberto Mancini said Giacomo Raspadori could be the Paolo Rossi of this Italy and said the starting XI against Czech Republic could be similar to the one against Turkey.
The Azzurri CT spoke at a press conference at the Media Center in Coverciano ahead of the friendly against Czech Republic on Friday night and Mancini expects ‘a good test’.
“I expect it to be a good match, a good test,” he said. “The Czech Republic are a good team, who play good football and very attacking.”
Raspadori was the surprise inclusion in the Italy squad ahead of the competition, as he’s still not capped by the Azzurri.
“I hope that Raspadori can come in and do like Paolo Rossi,” Mancini said. “But I didn’t bring him here just for this.
“He has technical qualities, he can only improve and represent the future of the national team. Above all, Giacomo has different characteristics to [Andrea] Belotti and [Ciro] Immobile. This is the main reason why I wanted him with us, as well as for what he has done in the championship.
“It would be nice to give him his debut in Bologna but we need to check his conditions, he has been playing for 120 minutes with the Under-21 side and has just recovered from an injury.”
Mancini then spoke about the three players he cut from the provisional squad, as Atalanta midfielder Matteo Pessina, Napoli forward Matteo Politano and Roma defender Gianluca Mancini were excluded from the list.
“Excluding Pessina was a painful choice like all the others, everyone would have deserved to be here for the players and the lads they are,” Mancini continued. “All of them were upset but I can say that they will all be important players for the national team and its future.”
Mancini then spoke about the potential line-up against Czech Republic and confirmed the starting XI tomorrow could be the same as the one against Turkey on June 11.
“[Leonardo] Spinazzola and Emerson [Palmieri] will most likely alternate at left in a back-four, as well as [Federico] Chiesa and [Domenico] Berardi will alternate in attack, on the right.
“In midfield, we have recovered [Stefano] Sensi but will not risk [Lorenzo] Pellegrini, even if he’s healed. We will decide together whether to rest Jorginho.
[Marco] Verratti is not available yet, even if he’s making great strides and we will evaluate him in a week. There are still many days to go, but the starting XI tomorrow could look like the starting line-up against Turkey on June 11.
“Tomorrow, either Immobile or Belotti will start in the centre of the attack: they are two forwards who resemble each other, but with Raspadori we have three strikers.”
Mancini stressed the target is to reach the Final at Wembley on July 11.
“The desire to be protagonists is always there, especially in such an important event,” Mancini added. “The goal is to reach the Final at Wembley.
“We can’t wait to get started.”