Nicolo Barella is fit and starts in Italy’s opening Euro 2024 clash against Albania tonight after shaking off an injury.
The Inter Milan midfielder missed both of his country’s pre-tournament friendlies with a muscle injury to leave him in a race to prove his fitness, having trained away from the main Italy squad on Tuesday, but was able to rejoin the group on Thursday to put himself back in contention.
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Nicolo Fagioli is out after picking up a minor issue against Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bryan Cristante is on the bench as Barella partners Arsenal’s Jorginho in midfield.
Luciano Spalletti has experimented with different systems, having only taken charge in September, but he is likely to opt for a back-three in what is effectively a must-win game for Italy, ahead of matches against Spain and Croatia.Giovanni Di Lorenzo starts on the right of a three-man defence, while Destiny Udogie being ruled out of the tournament with injury means Federico Dimarco can be confident of a run at left wing-back.
Albania boss Sylvinho made the surprise decision to omit Sokol Cikalleshi from his Euro 2024 squad, despite the striker being a regular in the qualification campaign. Cikalleshi swiftly announced his retirement from international football.Chelsea’s Armando Broja will therefore lead the line, though he goes into the tournament having barely featured in the second half of the season on loan at Fulham. Brentford’s Thomas Strakosha starts in goal.There are plenty of familiar names in the Albania squad for the Italians, including Berat Djimsiti, who won the Europa League with Atalanta, and Inter Milan’s Kristjan Asllani.
Italy XI: Donnarumma; Di Lorenzo, Bastoni, Calafiori, Dimarco; Jorginho, Barella; Frattesi, Pellegrini, Chiesa; Scamacca
Subs: Vicario, Meret, Buongiorno, Gatti, Raspadori, Darmian, Bellanova, Cristante, Mancini, Retegui, Zaccagni, Fagioli, El Shaarawy, Cambiaso, Folorunsho
Albania XI: Strakosha, Hysaj, Ajeti, Djimsiti, Mitaj, Asllani, Ramadani, Bajrami, Asani, Broja, Seferi
Subs: Etrit Berisha, Balliu, Manaj, Gjasula, Kastrati, Mihaj, Laci, Medon Berisha, Muci, Ismajli, Daku, Abrashi, Kumbulla, Aliji, Hoxha
Time and date: 8pm BST on Saturday June 15, 2024
Venue: BVB Stadion Dortmund
TV channel: BBC One
