Newly appointed Italian national team coach Luciano Spalletti has announced his first even squad – the one for the upcoming 2024 EURO qualifiers against Macedonia and Ukraine.

photo by FIGC: the team that faced England in March

Spalletti put 29 names on list list and made several changes. The likes of Leonardo Bonucci, Marco Veratti, Jorginho and Domenico Berardi have been left out, while Francesco Acerbi is out with an injury. Debutante is center back Nicolò Casale, while back after a year are Mattia Zaccagni, Cristiano Biraghi, Gianluca Mancini and Manuel Locatelli.

“We have to go and play two fundamental matches, we need international depth and some experience. We will start with 4-3-3, then if we need to we will put in a sub striker by switching to 4-2-3-1. We want to play with the back four, some players have been chosen because they play with their clubs. We have to be a team that tries to get the ball. Only two things matter in football: pressure and construction, everything else comes as a consequence.” – said Spalletti at today’s press-conference.

Gianluigi Donnarumma – Paris Saint-Germain
Alex Meret – Napoli
Ivan Provedel – Lazio
Guglielmo Vicario – Tottenham Hotspur

Alessandro Bastoni – Inter
Cristiano Biraghi – Fiorentina
Nicolò Casale – Lazio
Matteo Darmian – Inter
Giovanni Di Lorenzo – Napoli
Federico Dimarco – Inter
Gianluca Mancini – Roma
Alessio Romagnoli – Lazio
Giorgio Scalvini – Atalanta
Leonardo Spinazzola – Roma

Nicolò Barella – Inter
Bryan Cristante – Roma
Davide Frattesi – Inter
Manuel Locatelli – Juventus
Lorenzo Pellegrini – Roma
Matteo Pessina – Monza
Sandro Tonali – Newcastle United

Federico Chiesa – Juventus
Wilfried Gnonto – Leeds United
Ciro Immobile – Lazio
Matteo Politano – Napoli
Giacomo Raspadori – Napoli
Mateo Retegui – Genoa
Mattia Zaccagni – Lazio
Nicolò Zaniolo – Aston Villa

Italy will face Macedonia on September 9th at 20:45 CET at the National Arena Todor Proeski in Skopje, while on the 12th they will host Ukraine in Milan.