Three things spotted during Gattuso’s first training session as Italy coach | OneFootball

Football Italia attended Gennaro Gattuso’s first training session as Italy head coach: here are three things we spotted.

Gattuso took charge of his first-ever press conference as the Italy coach on Monday, September 1, 2025, just a few hours after holding a press conference at the Azzurri training ground.

BRIGHTON, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 14: Gennaro Gattuso, Head Coach of Marseille, looks on prior to the UEFA Europa League match between Brighton & Hove Albion v Olympique de Marseille at American Express Community Stadium on December 14, 2023 in Brighton, England. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)

Football Italia is among the accredited media at Coverciano during the international break, so here are three things we spotted during Gattuso’s first-ever training session.

Good old ‘grinta’

Whether it’s on the pitch or off the pitch, you get exactly what you expect from Gattuso. The former midfielder and 2006 Italy World Cup winner followed with great passion and emotional involvement every phase of the training session, starting with the warmup. Ringhio and his staff members, including Leonardo Bonucci, created two groups of outfield players for a rondo at the very start of the training session, and Gattuso would walk from one group to the other to motivate his players and follow all of them as closely as possible. ‘Mordi’ (‘bite’), he told Giovanni Fabbian at some point, urging the Bologna midfielder to pounce on the ball as quickly as he could.

First Italy training under Gennaro Gattuso on September 1, 2025.

Reduced group

Most Azzurri had played with their clubs on Sunday, so many of them only worked in the gym yesterday. This means that only the four goalkeepers and some outfield players trained on the pitch: Giovanni Fabbian, David Frattesi, Andrea Cambiaso, Francesco Pio Esposito, Giovanni Leoni, Raoul Bellanova, Daniel Maldini, Sandro Tonali, Matteo Politano, Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Giacomo Raspadori, Gianluca Mancini, Mateo Retegui and Riccardo Orsolini. Delegation Chief Gigi Buffon followed the entire training session from a bench on the touchline, while some players who had worked in the gym, such as Federico Dimarco, Manuel Locatelli, Alessandro Bastoni, Nicolò Rovella and Riccardo Calafiori, watched the final part of the training session, also from the touchline.

Exercises

With such a reduced group of players, Gattuso didn’t make any tactical test, although he had said at his press conference that his Italy side would play with a four-man defence. The players available for Monday’s training session worked on ball possession, pressing and finishing before ending the training session with a six-a-side training match. Sandro Tonali scored a couple of nice goals during the finishing drills and looked in good shape despite a recent shoulder injury suffered with Newcastle. Daniel Maldini also scored a beautiful goal during one of the training games, dribbling past three of his opponents and beating Gigio Donnarumma. Today, Tuesday, September 2, the Azzurri return to the pitch with the entire group available (only Tonali and Gianluca Scamacca are not fully fit), but only the opening 15 minutes will be open to the media.