Just four days before the first of their two European Championship qualifiers, the Azzurri continued their preparations with a friendly against Bologna’s Primavera side. 17-0 was the final scoreline, with Roberto Mancini experimenting with certain tactics and different players during a match made up of three 40-minute halves.  Sticking with a 4-3-3 formation, the Azzurri Head Coach, utilised almost every member of his squad apart from Kean and Spinazzola who completed their own personalised regimes.

The Azzurri’s initial starting XI consisted of Sirigu; Florenzi, Bonucci, Chiellini, Biraghi; Verratti, Jorginho, Bernardeschi; Insigne, Chiesa and Pavoletti.

Pellegrini, Immobile, El Shaarawy and Emerson all scored braces against the Rossoblu, while Bernardeschi, Verratti, Insigne, Chiesa, Belotti, Grifo, Zaniolo, Sensi and Quagliarella were the other players on the scoresheet.

This match was also somewhat of a reunion for old Sampdoria teammates, with Roberto Mancini, together with his assistants Attilio Lombardo, Fausto Salsano and Giulio Nuciari, meeting back up with Gianluca Pagliuca. He is now the goalkeeping Coach for Emanuele Troise’s Primavera side.

ITALY (1st period): Sirigu; Florenzi, Bonucci, Chiellini, Biraghi; Verratti, Jorginho, Bernardeschi; Chiesa, Pavoletti (30’ Belotti), Insigne.

ITALY (2nd period): Cragno; De Sciglio, Mancini, Romagnoli, Emerson; Pellegrini, Sensi, Barella; Bernardeschi (20’ El Shaarawy), Belotti (20’ Immobile), Insigne (20’ Grifo).

ITALY (3rd period): Gollini; Izzo, Mancini, Acerbi, Emerson; Zaniolo, Sensi, Cristante; Grifo, Immobile (13’ Quagliarella), El Shaarawy.

BOLOGNA Primavera: Fantoni, Piccardi, Mazza, Cassandro, Corbo, Uhunamure, Stanzani, Lunghi, Visconti, Ruffo, Farinelli. A disp.: Barnabà, Khailoti, Soldani, Cossalter, Molla, Parlanti, Agyemang, Boriani, Campagna, Cudini, Graziano, Mattiolo, Rosso, Saputo, Montebugnoli, Orlietti, Rocchi, Tosi, Zannoni. All: Troise.

REFEREE: Burgassi. Assistants: Pacheco and Capanni.

Goals: 12’ (1st) Bernardeschi, 24’ (1st) verratti, 26’ (1st) Insigne, 37’ (1st) Chiesa; 3’ (2nd) Belotti, 8’ (2nd) and 14’ (2nd) Pellegrini, 24’ (2nd) and (2nd) Immobile; 7’ (3rd) Grifo, 12’ (3rd) Zaniolo, 15’ (3rd) Sensi, 16’ (3rd) and (3rd) El Shaarawy, 17’ (3rd) Quagliarella, 23’ (3rd) and 27’ (3rd) Emerson.

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), Leonardo Spinazzola (Juventus);
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

Wednesday 5 June
10:00 Training (closed door)
13:30 Press conference (players)
18:30 Training (first 15 minutes open to accredited press)

Thursday 6 June
10:00 Training (closed door)
13:30 Press conference (players)
18:30 Training (closed door)

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”