Italy needs to be meaner, neat and tidy against Spain: Manager Spalletti

Dortmund,UPDATED: Jun 16, 2024 15:13 IST

Italy manager Luciano Spalletti opines his side have shown ample space to improve their game from their 2-1 victory against a strong Albania side in their UEFA Euro 2024 opener on June 15 at the Singnal Iduna Park in Dortmund, Germany. After going 1-0 down within the first 33 seconds of the game, Italy showcased a brilliant comeback to win the game on top of goals from Alessandro Bastoni and Nicolo Barella. However, Spalletti believes that Italy need to learn from their mistakes against Albania and become meaner with their approach and also be neat and tidy with their overall gameplay for the rest of the tournament.

After Nadeem Bajrami gave Albina the unforeseen lead with the fastest goal in the history of the competition, Spalletti's side switched to an intensive attacking structure. This ultimately led to the Azzuri equalising from a set-piece header by centre-back Bastoni in the 11th minute, only for Barella to snatch away the lead for themselves with a long-range goal just six minutes later. From then on, we saw Italy dial back to their usual controlled set up and ultimately seal the win. Although Albania did pose multiple threats to Italy's backline, the likes of Bastoni Riccardo Calafiori, goalkeeper and skipper Gianluigi Donnaruma were just too good for them to beat.

Speaking at the post-match press conference, Spalletti reflected on Italy's performance throughout the match and how they can improve further for the rest of the tournament.

"These things can happen because we switched off. But we need to appreciate the desire to try and go and play football even when the going got tough. We simply needed to keep things nice and tidy there, as we were boxed in...We saw lots of good play out there but it has to get you somewhere, because if it doesn't it's no use to anyone," Spalletti told Italian broadcaster RAI.

"We had lots of opportunities to do Albania damage. We worked on moves and how to get at their defence but we kept turning backwards. You need to see whether you've created the space in which you can have a chance at goal. If not, you can change your mind but we kept changing our minds too quickly. Sometimes it's easy to get comfortable in how you're playing but instead you need to be aggressive, hungry to create more and try to score that extra goal," Spalletti added.

Despite that, Italy will be sure to take some confidence off this win before they head to their next and probably their biggest Group B fixture against Spain on June 21.