Italy coach Luciano Spalletti was delighted on Monday November 11 to see that after a third of the 2024-25 Italian Championship, six teams were still within two points: “It’s good for the Nazionale,” he assured. “I congratulated my players, because it’s a great season to follow, with great football and very good matches. This increased competitiveness is good for everyone,” he declared at a press conference before the Nations League matches against Belgium on Thursday in Brussels and against France on Sunday in Milan. “The less renowned teams give the teams at the top of the table a hard time, it’s a growth factor for our sport,” Spalletti rejoiced. After the 12e day of Serie A, Naples is in the lead with 26 points, but four teams (Atalanta, Fiorentina, Inter Milan, Lazio Rome) are on their heels, at one point, while Juventus is 6e two lengths from the head.
Former Parisian Moïse Kean in great form
The former Naples coach was particularly pleased with the progress made by Mateo Retegui and Moise Kean, respectively top scorer in Serie A with Atalanta (11 goals) and 2e of this ranking after his hat-trick this weekend with Fiorentina (8 goals).
“They are showing what I hoped to see from them, I am happy to see them among the top scorers in our championship, Kean is in excellent physical condition,” he noted. Italy has been waiting for several seasons to find a proven scorer: its current best scorer is Inter midfielder Nicolo Barella with ten goals in 57 caps.
Before traveling to Belgium (Thursday at 8:45 p.m.) then hosting France (Sunday at 8:45 p.m.), Italy, at the top of its group with ten points, only needs one point to ensure its qualification for the quarter-finals of the Nations League and its top seed status for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. “It seems easy, period, but that will not be our way of thinking. If we approach these matches thinking only about this point, we will be wrong. These are going to be difficult matches, we cannot be presumptuous,” he warned.
READ ALSO. French team. Ousmane Dembélé in turn withdraws, Kingsley Coman replaces him
For these two matches, Spalletti announced that he will be without injured Torino midfielder Samuele Ricci. To replace him, he called Juventus Turin player Manuel Locatelli whom he had not called up since March 2024.
