Baldanzi on Italy U21 hat-trick, qualification target and favourite position | OneFootball

Tommaso Baldanzi is delighted with his hat-trick for Italy’s U21 side on Tuesday night, and has insisted that he is keen to continue playing in his natural trequartista role, despite suggestions from Daniele De Rossi that he could be deployed in a deeper position for Roma.

The former Empoli talent spoke to La Gazzetta dello Sport in an interview published on Thursday.

After grabbing a goal and an assist in the first qualification match against Norway just shy of a year ago, and with a hat-trick against them on Tuesday, Baldanzi was asked if the country or their players had done anything to rile him up?

“They brought me some luck,” Baldanzi joked in response. “I’m happy, we deserved this victory and now we’re aiming for qualification. Let’s celebrate our success, then we’ll go back to focusing on the next matches.

“It’s not luck, we’ve worked well, we’ve trained well over the last few days.”

Baldanzi’s hat-trick against Norway was the second of his career to date, including at youth level.

“(I’ve got one) only once before, with Empoli Primavera against SPAL in 2021, the season after winning the championship.”

He also remembers his last goal in senior football as well: “How could I forget! Against Juventus, my last game with Empoli. It was at the end of January and a fair bit of time has passed, so I’m happy to be back scoring.”

Baldanzi shares Italy U21 qualification target

Italy are four points clear at the top of their qualification group for the 2025 edition of the U21 EUROs.

A point in their final remaining qualifier against the Republic of Ireland will be enough to mathematically guarantee a spot at the final tournament, regardless of results elsewhere.

Baldanzi is pleased that the 3-0 victory over Norway, who are third in the group, gave the Azzurrini a bit of breathing room at the top.

“We needed it to separate ourselves from the teams below us, we also needed it so we could relax a little more ourselves.

“Now there is only one match to mathematically qualify, so we also have to win against Ireland. We care about that. Drawing would be enough, but we want to win it anyway.

Does Baldanzi want to wear the no.10 shirt, currently occupied by Leeds United’s Wilfried Gnonto?

“No, no, he’s no.10 and I’m no.11 for now. On the pitch though, we both play as tens. We always train hard, we want to go far.

Baldanzi on Ricci, Tonali, Frattesi and his own best position

Baldanzi was also asked if he sees himself representing Luciano Spalletti’s senior Italy side at the World Cup in 2026: “It’s a goal for every young Italian kid. There’s time, I’ll continue to work hard and we’ll see what comes of it.”

He also rejects the suggestion that there is a lack of talent in the senior squad: “That’s not true, there are lots of strong players like (Samuele) Ricci, (Sandro) Tonali and (Davide) Frattesi.”

Baldanzi ended his interview with a brief analysis of his most natural position, which he feels is in the trequartista role. That is despite suggestions from Daniele De Rossi that he could be deployed as a box-to-box midfielder for Roma.

He said: “Maybe it’s a slightly difficult role, not all teams use it. I’ve always done it and I’m happy to play in that position.”