Spalletti: "Against the Croatians we need a less beautiful but more concrete Italy. Matches like these go down in history"

Leipzig - Maybe less beautiful, a little more concrete, and hopefully qualified. Luciano Spalletti launches his third Euro-Italy, the one that will have no appeal anyway. Tonight in Leipzig against Croatia the crossroads of our European championship. A draw is enough for us to reach the round of 16 as second in Group B, also avoiding risks from the simultaneous Spain-Albania, with the Iberians already qualified as first after having beaten us. Watch out for the Croatians, who will be more numerous in the stands of the Red Bull Arena and on the pitch led by champions who may no longer be very young, but are real phenomena, such as 39-year-old Modric, without forgetting the various Kovacic, Pasalic, Perisic and Gvardiol (who, if his namesake Guardiola wanted him at Manchester City, it must mean something...). And so Spalletti is launching a concrete Italy, which will have to prove that it has overcome the Iberian trauma: with Di Marco back, Darmian, Cristante perhaps, and Retegui as centre forward, even if more than one person even hypothesises a change of module and a three-man defence. The rest will have to be done by the will and the group, the coach makes it clear, who tries to instil the courage not to make calculations and not to think too much about those two points that tonight will really count for very little.

"It is a very important match, we must not think that a draw is enough," explained the coach, flanked by one of the locker room leaders, Alessandro Bastoni. "You can change an element, but not the idea. I am calmer when we have the ball and more tense when others have it. Then sometimes we have to suffer the opponents' play, it's clear. I expect it with the 4-3-3. The Croatians will be forced to unbalance themselves like in the match against Albania, where they attacked with all their might. We are talking about a very strong team from a technical point of view and in the search for space on the pitch".

Or allegedly so, one might say, given the uninspiring numbers of our first strikers. The coach leafs through the thorny daisy but makes it clear that he has already chosen: 'Scamacca is a more imaginative player, you can expect any number from him, including the mistake you don't expect on an easy ball. Gianluca is more instinctive and imaginative on plays, while Retegui is more linear. When you give him the ball to exploit, it is difficult for him to miss. They are two strong players, not forgetting Raspadori who is very good at bonding with the team and is very strong technically.

The emotional button is the one the coach pushes hard on, because the team needs to be shaken up after the disastrous crash-test with Spain. "There are matches that make your story small or big, it is from this challenge here that you then have important results on what your stories are. We have made choices because we are convinced we are dealing with strong players, when I went to the retreats to talk to all of them I saw their desire to participate, to be there. And this willingness of theirs, this desire of theirs, translates into being available to play these challenges. When you're on the national team you get situations like that. From what I've seen, I like the behaviour. It's clear that I didn't like the match against Spain, we analysed it and talked about it, we took a step back compared to the last games. But when you are up against opponents chosen by a national team the level is always very high. I expect to see that the game against Spain has provided us with some lessons, even though it was bad and hurt the way it ended.

And again to reiterate the positivity and solidity of the Azzurri group: 'I am very satisfied with what I see, we did not tell banalities when we spoke of a great group in the past few days. This group can be trusted. Even though many are young and are playing these extreme challenges for the first time, they have the right attitude to go out and play and to show the lessons they have learnt".