Giacomo Raspadori acknowledges he has ‘a different way of interpreting the role of centre-forward’ to Italy’s other choices, but insists this is where he feels most comfortable, especially reuniting with Luciano Spalletti.
The Napoli striker was drafted in to replace Ciro Immobile as a centre-forward in this evening’s EURO 2024 qualifier against Ukraine, after the Lazio man had scored in the 1-1 draw with North Macedonia on Saturday.
He had several opportunities to find the back of the net at San Siro, but instead it was midfielder Davide Frattesi who bagged both goals for the 2-1 victory.
“I have a different way of interpreting the role of centre-forward, I have different characteristics, but this is where I feel most at ease. I am happy to have played in this role and to have helped the team in a truly important win,” Raspadori told Sky Sport Italia.
Spalletti was already well known to the Napoli players in the squad, having taken them to the Scudetto triumph only a few months ago, but his energy was new for many of the others.
“He has the utmost faith in us and showed that straight away. As he said in his press conference, this is the first time in his career that he was able to choose all the players in the squad, so that means he really wanted us here.
“We tried to work as much as possible in the days that we had together. He tries with great passion to express his ideas through training and we gave our best to prepare for this game.”
Raspadori has played in a 4-3-3 formation for three different coaches, Roberto De Zerbi at Sassuolo, Italy’s Roberto Mancini and now Spalletti at both Napoli and the Nazionale.
“They are all great coaches, especially for a young player like me, because they teach you so much. I think the big difference was in the enthusiasm of preparing and understanding the importance of this match. When you play at San Siro too, the atmosphere is special and that helped.”
After the north marcedonia gave ,I dropped 3 comments on this site about the strongest Italy 11, and I always put in fratessi, sensi, grifo, christante, castroveli and raspadori. I have been proven right by fratessi and christante,and raspadori now spalletti should look into sensi ,grifo and castroveli when they fit , I hardly overhyped average players.