The day after: Italy back to work after painful Euro 2024 loss to Spain | OneFootball

Luciano Spalletti and his Italy squad were back to work on the training ground following their damaging Euro 2024 defeat to Spain.

The Azzurri were clearly a cut below Luis de la Fuente’s side at the Veltins-Arena in Gelsenkirchen on Thursday night, looking lost and panicked on the pitch as la Roja cruised to a 1-0 victory, a fairly forgiving scoreline considering the balance of play.

The performance and result infuriated Italy fans, who have quickly started to lose hope in the national team following the defeat. The Azzurri need a positive result in their final group game against Croatia on Monday to confirm their spot in the Round of 16.

Italy back to work

La Gazzetta dello Sport details how Spalletti and his Italy squad were back on the training ground at Iserlohn stadium this afternoon to start preparations for their decisive clash with Croatia.

The coach spoke closely to his players for around 20 minutes before they emerged on the pitch and the atmosphere was markedly different compared to their training session after the win over Albania.

The Italy squad were divided into two – those who started against Spain worked in the gym on the bikes or other low-intensity exercises, whilst those who were left on the bench or only played a portion of the match were on the pitch with Spalletti.

In the practice match against one of the Borussia Dortmund youth teams, the Azzurri were lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation; Guglielmo Vicario was in goal, with Raoul Bellanova, Gianluca Mancini, Alessandro Buongiorno and Matteo Darmian in front of him.

In the midfield, Michael Folorunsho and Nicolo Fagioli were in the centre, with Stephan El Shaarawy, Giacomo Raspadori and Mattia Zaccagni in front of them. Mateo Retegui lined up as the sole striker.