Roberto Mancini has not called up ten players, including Nicolò Zaniolo, Andrea Belotti and Gianluca Scamacca for tonight’s clash against North Macedonia.
The Azzurri CT called 33 players for the World Cup play-offs, but not all of them will be available tonight. Mancini can bring a maximum of 12 players on the bench, so ten had to be snubbed from the squad list.
Pierluigi Gollini, Cristiano Biraghi, Leonardo Bonucci, Luiz Felipe, Manuel Locatelli, Stefano Sensi, Andrea Belotti, Gianluca Scamacca, Nicolò Zaniolo and Mattia Zaccagni won’t be available tonight, the FIGC announced.
Bonucci has yet to recover from a calf injury while Locatelli caught COVID last week, but is on his way to Coverciano after getting a negative swab test in the morning. Mancini seems to rely mostly on the group of players that won the Euros last summer as seven of the ten players left out of the squad (except for Belotti, Bonucci and Locatelli) were not part of that team.
According to Sky Sport Italia, Scamacca didn’t train with the Azzurri this morning due to a slight injury. The striker had felt pain in his thigh. The same problem forced him out of Sassuolo‘s starting XI against Spezia last weekend. Joao Pedro will be Ciro Immobile’s only alternative in attack tonight.
🇮🇹I giocatori NON convocati da Mancini per il match di questa sera sono Gollini, Biraghi, Bonucci, Luiz Felipe, Locatelli, Sensi, Belotti, Scamacca, Zaniolo e Zaccagni.#ItaliaMacedoniadelNord @TuttoMercatoWeb
— Raimondo De Magistris (@RaimondoDM) March 24, 2022
Italy squad list for North Macedonia clash
Goalkeepers: Alessio Cragno (Cagliari), Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint Germain), Salvatore Sirigu (Genoa).
Defenders: Francesco Acerbi (Lazio), Alessandro Bastoni (Inter), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Emerson Palmieri (Lione), Mattia De Sciglio (Juventus), Alessandro Florenzi (Milan), Gianluca Mancini (Roma);
Midfielders: Nicolò Barella (Inter), Bryan Cristante (Roma), Jorginho (Chelsea), Lorenzo Pellegrini (Roma), Matteo Pessina (Atalanta), Sandro Tonali (Milan), Marco Verratti (Paris Saint Germain);
Strikers: Domenico Berardi (Sassuolo), Ciro Immobile (Lazio), Lorenzo Insigne (Napoli), Joao Pedro (Cagliari), Matteo Politano (Napoli), Giacomo Raspadori (Sassuolo).
So Scamacca being out is a real disappointment, but why is Zaniolo out? No reason given for that.
He may on occasions make a debatable choice or two, but at this stage, lets all get behind our Azzurri and rally them on past North Macedonia!
Bye bye Italy. Relying to much on the Euro winning team which is ok but they couldn’t beat Switzerland or Northern Ireland and we need some new blood in this squad and we don’t have it
Zaniolo did not play in the derby and the team played much better without him, now he has been sent up to the stands for the national team. He needs to look at himself and realize that he needs to make changes in his game. He has difficulty with basic elements in the game. But the impression he gives is arrogance and stupidity.
Mancini is selecting players that are in form. Italy should do well. If North Macedonia decides to play 10 man defense, it could be a low scoring game frustrating game. We’re use to that.
I agree with Dan, Forza Italia!
Selecting players in form? – Joao Pedro has not scored since the middle of January – He’s the vice Immobile today???
In form. Sensi been out most of the season and have only played 6 games so no idea why he is there. Then we have Belotti who he just keeps picking and I’m not sure when the last time he scored for Italy was. Again Belotti hasn’t played much of the season as he has been injured
Belotti is not on the team, Leon…
Where is balotelli