Spain have made one change with Aymeric Laporte in for Nacho for tonight’s heavyweight Euro 2024 clash with Italy in Gelsenkirchen.
Both sides made a successful start to the tournament with wins in their opening Group B matches over the weekend, and another three points on Thursday would be enough for one nation to seal a spot in the last-16 with a game to spare.
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Spain captain Alvaro Morata was forced off in the win over Croatia but insisted it was just “a knock”, while head coach Luis de la Fuente has played down concerns over Rodri’s fitness, after he too had to come off in the second half on Saturday.
The Spain boss said: “Nothing important. Morata got a bang, and Rodri was fatigue as he had worked a lot.
“It was intelligent to ask for the change, as we want all our players in the best condition possible for the final stages of this competition.”
A muscle issue kept Laporte out of the Croatia match but has now returned to full fitness, meaning Nacho drops out.
Italy are unchanged, but could Nicolo Fagioli has been in training since the first game and could be involved off the bench.
There had been doubts over Nicolo Barella’s fitness heading into the tournament, but he started the opening match and came through unscathed while scoring the winner, so keeps his place.
Gianluca Scamacca leads the line again, despite a quiet showing last time out, with Lorenzo Pellegrini and Federico Chiesa continues either side of him.
Matteo Darmian is an option at full-back, but settles for a place on the bench again, with Federico Dimarco and Giovanni Di Lorenzo preferred.
Confirmed team news
Spain XI: Simon; Carvajal, Le Normand, Laporte, Cucurella; Rodri, Ruiz, Pedri; Yamal, Morata, Williams
Subs: Raya, Vivian, Merino, Joselu, Olmo, Ferran, Grimaldo, Remiro, Nacho, Baena, Zubimendi, Oyarzabal, Navas, Fermin, Ayoze
Italy XI: Donnarumma; Di Lorenzo, Bastoni, Calafiori, Dimarco; Jorginho, Barella; Chiesa, Frattesi, Pellegrini; Scamacca
Subs: Vicario, Meret, Buongiorno, Gatti, Raspadori, Darmian, Bellanova, Cristante, Mancini, Retegui, Zaccagni, Fagioli, El Shaarawy, Cambiaso, Folorunsho
Time and date: 8pm BST on Thursday June 20, 2024
Venue: Arena AufSchalke, Gelsenkirchen
TV channel: ITV1
