Italy: Three things spotted at training session day before Croatia duel

Just over 24 hours before the crucial Euro 2024 clash with Croatia, Luciano Spalletti and his Italy squad carried out an important training session on the pitch at Iserlohn.

The Azzurri find themselves in a precarious position heading into their third match of Group B at the European Championship, sitting second on three points, three behind Spain and two ahead of both Albania and Croatia.

Italy secured a tense 2-1 win over Albania in their opening match before failing to show much of note in their second game against Spain, suffering a 1-0 defeat that could’ve been far more painful had Gianluigi Donnarumma not performed well in Gelsenkirchen.

Three things spotted at Italy training

The Italy goalkeepers first entered the pitch in Iserlohn whilst their outfield teammates warmed up on exercise bikes and medicine balls on the sidelines.

Spalletti and his staff spoke closely to Federico Dimarco, who is suffering from a bruised calf after picking up a knock in the loss to Spain, before he left the training session early to work on a separate pitch, ruling him out of the clash with Croatia.

The Italy coach kept a close eye on the goalkeepers training work before splitting off to talk to his staff to prepare for the tactical work of today’s session whilst the outfield players completed a rondo drill as part of their warm-up.