June 14 – On Saturday, reigning European champions Italy will get their title defence underway against Albania in their Group B curtain raiser.
The Italians return to a major tournament after missing out on the 2022 World Cup but do not carry the tag of favourites after a difficult few years that included the exit of Roberto Mancini to Saudi Arabia.
Ahead of their opening match, manager Luciano Spalletti has fitness concerns over Davide Frattesi, Nicolò Barella and Nicolò Fagioli, but all three players have been in training this week.
Nine players from the Euro 2020-winning squad form a part of Italy’s current playing personnel.
Sylvinho, his counterpart at Albania, has no injury concerns. It will be Albania’s second time at the European championship.
At Euro 2016, they lost their curtain-raiser against Switzerland in a heated match because of the ties between the two countries. That scenario may repeat itself on Saturday in Dortmund with tens of thousands of Albanian supporters expected to back their side.
At a news conference, Italy goalkeeper Donnarumma singled out the match as a banana skin. He said: “Albania have a lot of excellent individual players. We have to make to we stay tight and compact, and don’t allow them space to win on the counterattack. We can win it in the first minute or the last – we just need to stay patient and keep our shape.
“This match is the biggest banana skin in our group. We have to be 100% switched on. Albania have a lot of pace, a lot of threat. We can’t afford to just give it 70-80%. This match will be hugely important.”
Neither team enjoyed the luck of the draw with Euro 2012 champions Spain and Croatia, 2018 World Cup finalists, completing the quartet in Group B, considered the group of death.
They face off at Berlin’s Olympiastadion in a repeat of last year’s Nations League final. At the last European championship, the pair played out one of the matches of the tournament when Spain advanced 5-3 to the quarter-finals following extra time.
Spain will be without Aymeric Laporte and there will be no underestimating the Croatians.
Manager Luis de la Fuente praised Croatia’s togetherness: “The Croatian players, in addition to having those feelings of nationhood and strength, have a special talent for sport and team sport more specifically. But the way they’ve performed as a national team in recent years is exceptional. When you bring that talent and national pride together it will make any team very dangerous and very strong. That’s what I’m trying to instil into our national team. We are very talented – we have players that are exceptional in a footballing sense.”
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