Mancini keeps Italian Euro 2020 winners for Nations League
FILE – In this file photo taken on Thursday, April 4, 2019, a view of the San Siro stadium in Milan, Italy. AC Milan president Paolo Scaroni is confident that the team’s new stadium will be ready in three years and that the club will be ready to launch the project by the end of next year. The start of the end of Milan’s iconic San Siro stadium was announced in 2019 when Rossoneri and Inter Milan unveiled the two shortlisted projects for their proposed new stadium. The two rival clubs both play their home games at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, commonly known as San Siro. (AP Photo / Antonio Calanni, File)
PA
MILAN
Italy coach Roberto Mancini on Thursday recalled all the fit players from his European Championship-winning side for the Nations League semi-final against Spain next week.
Only four players are missing from the 26-man squad that beat England in the Euro 2020 final in July: Leonardo Spinazzola, Alessandro Florenzi, Gaetano Castrovilli and Andrea Belotti. All are injured.
The only player named to the 23-man squad for the Nations League finals not to feature in Italy’s success was Lorenzo Pellegrini. The Roma midfielder was originally part of the Euro 2020 squad but suffered an injury in training with the national team and was replaced at the last minute by Castrovilli.
Italy will meet Spain in Milan in the Nations League final next Wednesday, three months after their Euro 2020 semi-final.
The winner will face world champion France or Belgium in the Nations League final in Milan on October 10, while the losers will play a third-place match on the same day in Turin.
France faces Belgium on Thursday in Turin.
In addition to beating Spain on penalties at Euro 2020, Italy also beat Belgium 2-1 in the quarter-finals.
Italy are on an international record of 37 consecutive unbeaten matches.
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Team:
Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint-Germain), Alex Meret (Napoli), Salvatore Sirigu (Genoa)
Defenders: Francesco Acerbi (Lazio), Alessandro Bastoni (Inter Milan), Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Emerson Palmieri (Lyon), Rafael Toloi (Atalanta)
Midfielder: Nicolò Barella (Inter Milan), Bryan Cristante (Roma), Jorginho (Chelsea), Manuel Locatelli (Juventus), Lorenzo Pellegrini (Roma), Matteo Pessina (Atalanta), Marco Verratti (Paris Saint-Germain)
Forwards: Domenico Berardi (Sassuolo), Federico Bernardeschi (Juventus), Federico Chiesa (Juventus), Ciro Immobile (Lazio), Lorenzo Insigne (Napoli), Giacomo Raspadori (Sassuolo)
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