Italy under examination Spain, Spalletti: "A crazy desire to say who we are"

For Luciano's Italy Spalletti a crucial test is approaching: the challenge against Spain.

“I want to see an Italy that repeats the good performance of the first match,” declared the technical commissioner Luciano Spalletti during the pre-match press conference. “We will have Spain in front, one of the best football schools in the world, but we have a great desire to show that our team is also important. The key is always the good game and keeping the ball. Even if with Spain, who press and keep the defensive line high, a few more verticalizations are fine. You win by verticalizing the game.”

Spalletti defined the match as one of the possible finals of this European Championship, also considering the 2-2 draw between Albania and Croatia, which makes a victory tomorrow night even more important. At stake is not only the passage of the round, but also the first place in group B, which would guarantee a round of XNUMX in Cologne, not far from the headquarters of the Azzurri in Iserlohn.

“No, it's not a derby, all these matches are derbies and all these matches are finals,” Spalletti underlined. “When I play a European Championship, these are games that will never happen again, they pass so as not to pass again and I give them the attention they deserve. We will try to play the same game we played against Albania. We want to measure ourselves against a strong team like Spain to see our level of football against one of the strongest teams there is. I am convinced that if we give the ball to them we will come out badly, so we will try to play our game and control the game. We will see if we will be able to do it against Spain too.”

For Spalletti, the Gelsenkirchen challenge represents a fundamental stage in his career with the national team. “This time I’ll announce the lineup tomorrow, not the day before. It’s one of the most important games of my career. We all have stories to tell, in football, this is one of those games that can determine one of those stories. They, Spain, have everything in terms of team and individual characteristics.”

While acknowledging the strength of Morata's team and Spanish coach De La Fuente, Spalletti stressed that today's Spain is a strong team, but it is no longer the one from the golden days of Xavi and Iniesta. “I'm worried about the level of play we'll be able to play,” Spalletti told Iberian journalists. “The intentions must be the right ones. We have respect for them, but we must not think they are stronger than they are. You are not the only ones playing great football, do not overestimate yourselves.”

Spalletti praised Spanish striker Morata, highlighting his qualities and his commitment on the pitch, making an implicit comparison with his own striker, Scamacca. “Morata? He is not lazy, he is someone who runs a lot, he covers an incredible number of metres, he attacks the space behind the lines a lot, Yamal the same,” Spalletti concluded.