Roberto Mancini urges Italy to ‘enjoy’ their football against Austria and the experience of playing at Wembley Stadium, while choosing between Marco Verratti and Manuel Locatelli is a ‘luxury.’
The Round of 16 kicks off at Wembley Stadium on Saturday at 20.00 UK time.
Winning tomorrow would set up a quarter-final against Belgium or Portugal, but also set a new all-time record for the Azzurri of going 31 games unbeaten.
“I’ve enjoyed my time as Italy coach and I would like to continue doing it. I thank the players, as they allowed me to have fun with this experience too,” said Mancini in his press conference.
“Playing at Wembley should always be a pleasure. There are players in this squad who have never experienced it and they ought to relish this opportunity in a beautiful stadium.
“When you play football, it’s because you want to do it in stadiums like this. I think this team needs to keep feeding the joy and at the same time respect a temple of football like this. I am sure the lads will play well tomorrow.”
Italy won all three group games against Turkey, Switzerland and Wales by keeping clean sheets, but Austria represent a different test.
“We need a great performance, as Austria have quality, they are aggressive and we cannot get anything wrong. That’s the beauty of these tournaments, you have to win and there’s no other option. We have to continue playing our football, hopefully for another four games at Euro 2020.”
Giorgio Chiellini and Alessandro Florenzi are not 100 per cent fit, so Francesco Acerbi and Giovanni Di Lorenzo are expected to step in.
The main doubt is between PSG star Verratti and Sassuolo talent Locatelli in midfield, with Verratti seemingly the favourite after making his comeback from a knee injury against Wales.
“We can count on talented players, so we are not worried. Whoever plays will continue the good work we’ve done so far. We’ll see tomorrow for the doubts, but we’ve basically got our team.
“It’s a pleasure for a coach to be given this ‘difficulty’ of choosing between great players, especially knowing there are 11 who start, but the others are all ready to come in and change the game. That is a luxury for us.”
Mancini was asked why he opted to leave out Moise Kean, who is still owned by Everton and on loan at PSG, in favour of Sassuolo teenager Giacomo Raspadori.
“We were disappointed to leave anyone behind, so Kean, Matteo Politano, Gianluca Mancini and others. Moise knows he can be a big player for the Nazionale in the future, it depends on him. He has enormous quality and can improve.”
The coach was also asked about the confusion over whether Italy players will take the knee or not, after five did before kick-off with Wales.
“I am here to talk about the game, but I will say that the most important thing for me is freedom. Always.”