Luciano Spalletti and Italy are gearing up for a vitally important Euro 2024 and need to be wary of three pitfalls as they look to defend their title.
The pressure is on the Azzurri to respond on the international stage after their recent heartbreak in the World Cup qualifiers, where they lost to North Macedonia in the play-offs back in March 2022, ruling them out of that winter’s tournament in Qatar.
Italy bounced back from their 2018 qualification failure with an unexpected and historical win at Euro 2020, and now they’ve been tasked with another resounding run in Germany this summer, setting up a crucially important tournament for Spalletti and his players.
With the Azzurri in Group B alongside Spain, Croatia and Albania, what are three pitfalls facing Spalletti’s Italy at Euro 2024 this summer?
It’s been more than a decade now since La Roja set the footballing world alight at two European Championships and a World Cup, and after a quiet spell, things are starting to rumble again on the Iberian Peninsula.
Spain edged out a tense win over Croatia in the Nations League final last year, their first title since Euro 2012, and Luis de la Fuente’s side were near-flawless in their qualifying campaign, winning seven of their eight matches. They’ll be expecting a strong run at Euro 2024 and will certainly prove tough opponents for Spalletti’s Italy in the group stage.
Croatia are a nation who’ve been punching well above their weight in international football since 2018, when they finished second in the World Cup in Russia. The Vatreni did disappoint at Euro 2020 but then bounced back at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, picking up a bronze medal.
With talismanic midfielder Luka Modrić in the twilight of his career now, Euro 2024 could be the final chance for this Croatia side to have a serious shot of glory on the international stage, and they won’t be keen to exit at the group stage, forcing the Azzurri to prepare for a tough, tense battle in Germany.
The final pitfall that could upset the Azzurri at Euro 2024 is an internal one, and one that the fans know all too well at this stage – a reliable source of goals. Whilst the Azzurri have a number of possible starting strikers for the tournament, none have truly been tested at the highest level.
Possible number nines for Spalletti including Genoa’s Mateo Retegui, who has only netted six league goals in his debut season for Genoa, Atalanta’s Gianluca Scamacca, who has recently hit a vein of rich form but has otherwise been inconsistent and Napoli’s Giacomo Raspadori, whose goal-per-game ratio with the national team is no better than Ciro Immobile’s.
