There can be no talk of a
'Reniassance' for Italian football after three Italian clubs got
to the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the first time
in 17 years, Italy coach Roberto Mancini said Monday, saying it
would only be so if there were 33 Italians playing for Napoli,
Inter and Milan.
''I would not speak of a rebirth of Italian football because
there are three teams of ours in the Champions League
quarter-finals, it would be like that if there were 33 Italian
players in AC Milan, Napoli and Inter, but as it cannot be like
that half would be enough'', said a visibly disconsolate Mancini
on the first day of the national team's meeting at its
Coverciano training centre outside Florence to prepare for its
first European qualifying matches against England and Malta.
Napoli, AC Milan and Inter, like most top Italian clubs, have a
majority of foreign players on their books.
Euro 2020 champions Italy kick off their bid to qualify for the
next tournament in Germany next year by hosting England in
Naples on Thursday before travelling to Malta on March 26.
The Azzurri's other group opponents are Ukraine and North
Macedonia, which infamously stopped Mancini's men from
qualifying for the Qatar World Cup, for the second time running,
with a 1-0 win a year ago.
Mancini has called up a 30-man squad for the England Malta games
including first call-ups for Lecce keeper Wladimiro Falcone,
Torino defender Alessandro Buongiorno and Club Atletico Tigre
striker Mateo Retegui.
Also returning to international duty are defenders Matteo
Darmian of Inter and Alessio Romagnoli of Lazio, absent
respectively since March 2018 and November 2020.
Te 23-year-old Retegui, who has shone at Argentine side Atletico
Tigre on loand from River Plate, is beefing up a forward unit
missing the injured Ciro Immobile of Lazio.
Here is the squad:
Keepers: Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint Germain), Wladimiro
Falcone (Lecce), Alex Meret (Napoli), Ivan Provedel (Lazio).
Difensori: Francesco Acerbi (Inter), Leonardo Bonucci
(Juventus), Alessandro Buongiorno (Torino), Matteo Darmian
(Inter), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Federico Dimarco (Inter),
Alessio Romagnoli (Lazio), Giorgio Scalvini (Atalanta), Leonardo
Spinazzola (Roma), Rafael Toloi (Atalanta).
Midfielders: Nicolò Barella (Inter), Bryan Cristante (Roma),
Davide Frattesi (Sassuolo), Jorginho (Arsenal), Lorenzo
Pellegrini (Roma), Matteo Pessina (Monza), Sandro Tonali
(Milan), Marco Verratti (Paris Saint Germain).
Forwards: Domenico Berardi (Sassuolo), Federico Chiesa
(Juventus), Wilfried Gnonto (Leeds United), Vincenzo Grifo
(Friburgo), Simone Pafundi (Udinese), Matteo Politano (Napoli),
Mateo Retegui (Club Atletico Tigre), Gianluca Scamacca (West Ham
United).
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