After the brilliant wins against Finland and Liechtenstein ahead of Euro 2020, Roberto Mancini’s Italy are set for two more matches against Greece tomorrow night in Athens before facing Bosnia and Herzegovina on Tuesday 11 June at the Juventus Stadium in Turin.

"The players are all experienced even if there are some young players who haven’t played much in Europe but there’s no fear. If anything, they should have the desire to play well in a full stadium. We are Italy and we need to go out to win," said Roberto Mancini in the pre-match press conference.

"It will be a tough match," Mancini added. "We’ll have to show that we’ve improved against a technical side. Everyone has looked good in recent days, the forwards also. Now, we’re evaluating who’ll play."

Greece are a tough side to face but the Coach is calm: "We still don’t know who’ll play, I’ve used two different systems in the last two games and it won’t be an easy match. It’s a team where something is changing, there are technical players of great value and we’ve been playing well over the last months. Different things have changed, when a cycle comes to an end, it takes some time to rebuild."

Mancini expects to see a strong mental display from his Italy side that is in line with the two previous qualifiers: "We need to keep playing with the same mentality, in the knowledge that there can be moments in a match which change the game. We play lots of our games in the same way. This is one of the matches where we can show how we’ve improved, we’ll face a strong and technical opponent but we want to go on the pitch and win."

"The aim that we’re going for ahead of the European Championship is to use a style of play regardless of the players. It will take some time but the mentality is good. It’s been good since the first day. We have maximum respect for the opponent. Again, I repeat that these will be two difficult matches because they’re two sides fighting for top spot in the group."

Mancini has clear ideas and he’s not hiding them. "Italy cannot miss out on European Championships and World Cups. What happened, happened. We can’t do anything about it now. It hadn’t happened in the 60 years prior and it was horrible for everyone. Now, we need to do things so that it never happens again."

Giorgio Chiellini was sat alongside Mancini for the press conference: "The Greece match will be tough for technical reasons and the atmosphere. We’ll have to play well to win it. They have a centre-half pairing that we all know: Manolas-Papastathopoulos. They’re internationally recognised players. They have excellent players, they’ve changed the coach and they’re doing well. In addition to this, it will be a fiery atmosphere and that always makes it harder. We need to stay focused because it will be a match played at a high level."

Squad

Goalkeepers: Alessio Cragno (Cagliari), Pierluigi Gollini (Atalanta); Salvatore Sirigu (Torino), Antonio Mirante (Roma);

Defenders: Francesco Acerbi (Lazio), Cristiano Biraghi (Fiorentina), Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Mattia De Sciglio (Juventus), Emerson Palmieri (Chelsea), Alessandro Florenzi (Roma), Armando Izzo (Torino), Gianluca Mancini (Atalanta), Alessio Romagnoli (Milan);

Midfielders: Nicolò Barella (Cagliari), Federico Bernardeschi (Juventus), Bryan Cristante (Roma), Frello Filho Jorge Luiz Jorginho (Chelsea), Lorenzo Pellegrini (Roma), Stefano Sensi (Sassuolo), Marco Verratti (Paris Saint Germain), Nicolò Zaniolo (Roma);

Forwards: Andrea Belotti (Torino), Federico Chiesa (Fiorentina), Stephan El Shaarawy (Roma), Vincenzo Grifo (Friburgo), Ciro Immobile (Lazio), Lorenzo Insigne (Napoli), Moise Kean (Juventus), Leonardo Pavoletti (Cagliari), Fabio Quagliarella (Sampdoria).

 

Staff – Head Coach: Roberto Mancini; National Team Coordintaor: Gabriele Oriali; Assistant Coaches: Alberico Evani, Attilio Lombardo, Giulio Nuciari, Fausto Salsano; Fitness coaches: Claudio Donatelli and Andrea Scanavino; Goalkeeping coach: Massimo Battara; Match Analyst: Antonio Gagliardi; Doctors: Andrea Ferretti and Carmine Costabile; Physiotherapist: Maurizio Fagorzi, Emanuele Randelli, Fabrizio Scalzi, Luca Lascialfari, Fabio Sannino; Hosteopath: Walter Marinelli; Nutritionist: Matteo Pincella.

Squad schedule and media commitments

 

Friday 7 June

09:00 Transfer to Florence airport

10:00 Flight from Florence to Athens

13:00 l.t.* Arrival and transfer to hotel

17:30 l.t. Press conference MD-1 c/o ‘OACA Spyros Louis Stadium’

18:00 l.t. Training MD-1 c/o ‘OACA Spyros Louis Stadium’ (first 15 minutes open to accredited press)

 

Saturday 8 June

21:45 l.t. MD3 Greece–Italy - ’Spyros Louis Stadium’

 

Sunday 9 June

11:00 l.t. Training (closed door)

15:45 l.t. Airport transfer

17:00 l.t. Flight from Athens to Turin

19:00 Arrival and transfer to the hotel

 

Monday 10 June

17:30 Press conference MD-1 c/o “Juventus Stadium”

18:00 Training MD-1 c/o “Juventus Stadium” (first 15 minutes open to accredited press)

Tuesday 11 June

20:45 MD4 Italy–Bosnia Herzegovina - “Juventus Stadium”