Luciano Spalletti confirms Scudetto-winners Inter will be ‘fundamental’ to providing a core of players for Italy at EURO 2024. ‘Thank goodness someone still believes in Italian talent.’
The CT was speaking to reporters at the European Globe Soccer Awards this evening and inevitably looked ahead to the tournament in Germany this summer.
He named his 30-man preliminary squad for the competition, which will be cut down to 26 for the tournament itself.
They include six Inter players, Francesco Acerbi, Nicolò Barella, Alessandro Bastoni, Matteo Darmian, Federico Dimarco and Davide Frattesi.
“Having six players from the same club is a big deal for us, because it is not like it used to be when the Nazionale was formed of groups from Juventus, Inter, Milan or at most Roma,” said Spalletti.
“Now there are players from Genoa, Bologna and all sorts. So to have players who can glance over at each other and feel ‘we can trust ourselves because we showed it with our victory in Serie A,’ that is an advantage.”
Spalletti grateful to Inter
There used to be the ‘Juventus bloc’ in the Nazionale for the 1982 World Cup, but that has become increasingly difficult to replicate in recent years when there are so few Italians in the starting XI.
“Thank goodness someone still believes in Italian talent, because there is a lot of it out there and it ought to be given more room to flourish,” added Spalletti.
“The Inter bloc has its own mentality and way of staying on the field that is unique to them. They are just as strong as the Juve individuals were, but clearly they need to carry on that sense of friendship and unity to the rest of the team.”
The Azzurri will play Turkey on June 4 and Bosnia-Herzegovina on June 9 in warm-up friendly matches to get them ready for EURO 2024.
Their tournament begins against Albania on June 15, Spain on June 20 and Croatia on June 24.
How ironic is that. Milan used to “supply” players for Azzurri, but now not even our capitano Calabria can break into Azzurri call-up. On the other hand, Inter then-under Moratti barely featured Italian players in their starting line-up, but now of all 3 Italian big clubs, Inter are the only one who really represent Italian flavor.
Seria A = League of foreign mercenaries!
Thanks to Agnelli for gifting Inter Marotta
@davide because your Milan players are all mediocre. That’s why your captain doesn’t get the call.
No use to revive the same old feuds among the big clubs. The sad reality is that Serie A is literally invaded by foreign players. Are Italian talents so scarce ?
The Federcalcio politics are totally WRONG !