Pellegrini and Italy want to ‘dominate’ after he missed EURO 2020

Lorenzo Pellegrini admits starting for Italy at EURO 2024 against Albania is particularly special for him, as he missed EURO 2020 through injury. ‘We want to dominate the match.’

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

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

Italy are defending Champions of Europe after winning the EURO 2020 competition, although it was played in the summer of 2021 due to the global pandemic.

“We are ready, we’ve been working hard and can continue to improve, but we want to have our say in this Euros,” Pellegrini told RAI Sport.

Pellegrini ruled out of EURO 2020

The Roma midfielder was forced to miss the EURO 2020 tournament that resulted in an Italian victory at Wembley Stadium, so this is particularly special for him to finally get his opportunity.

“I had to pull out of the Euros at the last minute, so I couldn’t wait to be here. Now we are fired up, we want to dominate the match and bring home the three points. Dominating the game, that is what we prepared.

“I had been waiting for this a long time. Now is the moment to play, enjoy ourselves and win. The first few weeks were tough in training, but if you want to go all the way in this tournament, you need to put plenty of fuel in the tank.”

Elsewhere in Italy’s group, Spain crushed Croatia 3-0 this evening with goals from Alvaro Morata, Fabian Luiz and Dani Carvajal, while Unai Simon kept the clean sheet by saving a Bruno Petkovic penalty.