Matteo Politano returns among Spalletti's national team players and the group of Neapolitan footballers is 5 elements. The largest ever in the history of the blue team.
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The National team will face Germany in the UEFA Nations League quarter-finals in a double challenge that represents a real 'sliding door' on the future. The two matches - scheduled for Thursday 20 March at the 'Giuseppe Meazza' stadium in Milan and Sunday 23 March at the BVB Stadion in Dortmund - will not only decide qualification for the Finals, which Italy would host in Turin in June if they win, but also the path to the 2026 World Cup.
If they advance to the next round, the Azzurri would be placed in a group with Slovakia, Northern Ireland and Luxembourg, while in the event of a defeat they would face Norway, Israel, Estonia and Moldova.
Coach Luciano Spalletti has called up 25 players: first call-up to the national team for Atalanta defender Matteo Ruggeri, born in 2002, and for Torino midfielder Cesare Casadei, born in 2003, while Matteo Politano – called up for the last time in November 2023 – and Mattia Zaccagni, absent from last September's matches, return to wear the blue jersey.
The national team will gather on Sunday evening in Appiano Gentile to stay at Inter headquarters until the afternoon of Saturday 22 March, when they are scheduled to depart for Dortmund.
This is the list of those called up:
Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint-Germain), Alex Meret (Napoli), Guglielmo Vicario (Tottenham);
Defenders: Alessandro Bastoni (Inter), Alessandro Buongiorno (Naples), Riccardo Calafiori (Arsenal), Andrea Cambiaso (Juventus), Pietro Comuzzo (Fiorentina), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Naples), Federico Gatti (Juventus), Matteo Ruggeri (Atalanta), Destiny Udogie (Tottenham);
Midfielders: Nicolò Barella (Inter), Cesare Casadei (Turin), Davide Frattesi (Inter), Samuele Ricci (Turin), Nicolò Rovella (Lazio), Sandro Tonali (Newcastle);
Forwards: Moise Kean (Fiorentina), Lorenzo Lucca (Udinese), Daniel Maldini (Atalanta), Matteo Politano (Naples), Giacomo Raspadori (Naples), Mateo Retegui (Atalanta), Mattia Zaccagni (Lazio).
The Azzurri will return to play in Milan 123 days after their last Nations League group match against France, when the 'Meazza' stadium was sold out (68.000 spectators) and set a record for a national team match. There have been four previous matches against Germany in Milan, all friendlies.
Two victories for Italy, 3-1 in the first match at Campo Milan in January 1923 and 3-2 in May 1940 at San Siro, and two draws (1-1 and 0-0) in the friendlies played – both on 15 November – in 2013 and 2016. On 15 May 1910, the national team played the first match in its history on the pitch of the Arena Civica, beating France with a clear 6-2.
Milan also witnessed the birth of the Azzurri myth, as on 6 January 1911, against Hungary, Italy wore the blue jersey for the first time. The second city after Rome to have hosted the highest number of matches for the national team (62, with a record of 39 wins, 19 draws and 4 defeats), as well as the headquarters of the Italian Football Federation between 1905 and 1911, Milan has seen Italy take to the field in four different venues: the Arena Civica, the Velodromo Sempione (demolished in 1928), the Campo Milan on Viale Lombardia and the San Siro Stadium, which has been named after Giuseppe Meazza since 3 March 1980.
In the Lombard capital, the Azzurri have maintained an unbeaten run that has almost reached a century, exactly 96 years: from the 1-2 in January 1925 with Hungary (at Campo Milan, while in 1911 the other defeat with the Hungarians had come at the Arena Civica) to the 1-2 in October 2021 with Spain at the 'Meazza'. The national team's biggest victory in Milan is Italy-France 9-4 on 18 January 1920, while Austria is the most faced opponent (6 times), followed by Sweden, Switzerland, Hungary and Portugal (5).
Article published on March 14, 2025 - 18pm
It is interesting to see how many young players have been called up, especially Matteo Politano who is returning. The Neapolitan team is strong and will have a good chance of winning, but Germany is always fearsome and it will not be easy.