The Italy Euro 2024 squad will have to improve in the knockout stages if they are to retain the crown they lifted three years ago.
After beating Albania 2-1 in their opening Euro 2024 match, Italy fell 1-0 to Spain in their second after Riccardo Calafiori inadvertently stuck the ball into his own net. That left the European Championship holders in second place in the group heading into their final game with Croatia, needing just a point to secure their spot in the knockout.
Croatia, though, had other ideas, and led through Luka Modric in the 55th minute of the game. Only a 98th minute equaliser from Mattia Zaccagni saved the Azzurri, who would otherwise have been eliminated if things had stayed the same, with their three points and -1 goal difference at the time not enough to qualify as one of the best third-placed teams.
Fortunately for Italy, they are through to the last 16, though they face a tough test against Switzerland in Berlin on Saturday. Their opponents were just minutes away from finishing top of Group A themselves by inflicting a huge shock on Germany, and will be tricky customers for Luciano Spalletti's side.
The Italy Euro 2024 squad has plenty of experience to call upon in the knockout stages, though, with Gianluigi Donnarumma, Jorginho and Nicolo Barella all having been here before. Beat Switzerland, and England or Slovakia await in the quarter-finals.
Luciano Spalletti has had less than a year to prepare for his first international tournament and only two friendlies in which he could experiment, following a nail-biting end to Italy's qualifying campaign.
The 65 year old masterminded Napoli's stunning Scudetto win of 2022/23, and has always promoted an attacking style of football and won't stop now.
As BBC pundit Cesc Fabregas put it during Italy's victory over Albania: "Since his Roma days, Napoli last year as well, this is what he likes to do: young players, energy, always press forward, and you can see that straight away."
Italy's star player
Nicolo Barella
Nicolo Barella (Image credit: Getty Images)
Nicolo Barella, the all-action midfielder at the heart of Inter's stunning form over the last couple of seasons, is the closest thing Italy have to an outfield star.
There were hopes after Euro 2020 that Federico Chiesa would be the next Azzurri pin-up, but the winger has had a frustrating stint since joining an under-performing Juventus side in 2022.
Barella, however, is in good nick, as he proved with his somewhat speculative but successful strike to give Italy the lead against Albania. Strangely, he scores about twice as often for his country as he has at club level - but he is prone to going through occasional purple patches in front of goal.
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Ryan is a staff writer for FourFourTwo, joining the team full-time in October 2022. He first joined Future in December 2020, working across FourFourTwo, Golf Monthly, Rugby World and Advnture's websites, before eventually earning himself a position with FourFourTwo permanently. After graduating from Cardiff University with a degree in Journalism and Communications, Ryan earned a NCTJ qualification to further develop as a writer while a Trainee News Writer at Future.
