Roberto Mancini was prepared for a tough Euro 2024 qualifying group and reflected on Italy’s failure to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar.
The Azzurri failed to qualify for their second consecutive World Cup after a disastrous loss to North Macedonia in the play-offs earlier this year, breaking hearts in the Italian peninsula for the second time in five years. Italy are now going through a rebuilding process ahead of Euro 2024, likely to be their next major tournament.
Speaking to RAI before the Euro 2024 draw, Mancini hoped for the best regarding Italy’s possible opponents.
“It seems to me that a fairly difficult group can be drawn, because both in the second and fourth group there are important teams.
“Lately we have not been very lucky with the draws, let’s see what will come out.”
He made a brief comment about Italy’s failure to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar.
“It’s a wound that will still bleed until the end, we can only erase it by winning the next one.”
Finally, Mancini spoke highly about emerging Azzurri forward Giacomo Raspadori, who scored in Italy’s last two matches against England and Hungary.
“He’s starting to play important matches, guys with quality when they play at this level necessarily improve.”
Italy’s Euro 2020 win was an incredibly important moment for Mancini and the squad after the World Cup qualification failure back in 2017 and they’ll be hoping to follow it up with another positive tournament in Germany in 2024.