EURO 2024: Italy vs. Albania official line-ups

Italy start Riccardo Calafiori in a versatile defence, with Nicolò Barella in midfield and Federico Chiesa supporting Gianluca Scamacca in their EURO 2024 debut against Albania.

It kicks off in Dortmund at 20.00 UK time (19.00 GMT).

You can follow all the build-up and action as it happens on the LIVEBLOG.

The Azzurri continue their group phase against Spain on June 20 and Croatia on June 24.

There were some injury concerns going into this game, as Barella missed both warm-up friendly matches, but he starts here with Jorginho in what is nominally a 4-2-3-1 formation.

Bologna defender Calafiori gets only his third senior cap, having made his debut a couple of weeks ago, with Giovanni Di Lorenzo able to tuck in to become a three-man defence.

Chiesa, Davide Frattesi and Lorenzo Pellegrini also provide versatility behind Scamacca.

Albania have quite a few players familiar to Serie A, including Inter midfielder Kristjan Asllani, Atalanta centre-back Berat Djimsiti, Lazio full-back Elseid Hysaj, Empoli defender Ardian Ismajli, Lecce’s Ylber Ramadani and Sassuolo’s Nedim Bajrami.

The player to watch out for in attack is Chelsea-owned Armando Broja, who is a transfer target for Milan.

Italy: Donnarumma; Di Lorenzo, Calafiori, Bastoni, Dimarco; Jorginho, Barella; Chiesa, Frattesi, Pellegrini; Scamacca

Albania: Strakosha; Hysaj, Djimsiti, Arlind Ajeti, Mitaj; Asllani, Ramadani, Bajrami; Asani, Broja, Seferi

Ref: Zwayer (GER)