Spalletti: ‘Buongiorno Italy advantage knowing Napoli teammate Lukaku’

Luciano Spalletti believes it will be ‘an advantage’ to have Romelu Lukaku’s Napoli teammate Alessandro Buongiorno marking him this evening in Belgium-Italy. ‘He is almost impossible to beat in a physical clash.’

It kicks off at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels at 19.45 GMT.

The Azzurri were held to a 2-2 draw when these sides met in Rome last month, although they had been leading comfortably 2-0 until the Lorenzo Pellegrini red card opened the door for a comeback.

Now they require one point to be guaranteed a place in the Nations League quarter-final and the big danger man upfront for Belgium is Lukaku.

As Riccardo Calafiori is injured, it means Buongiorno will start in defence against his Napoli teammate.

“It is an advantage for us that Buongiorno knows him well, as he will have a good idea of his qualities,” Spalletti told GR RAI.

“Lukaku always has the same characteristics whether at club or international level, so even against a club teammate, he is very difficult to move off the ball. He is almost impossible to beat in a physical clash.

“Therefore, we will have to try to anticipate him with collaboration from the midfielder, who has to clear the way before the ball reaches him.”

Italy can learn from Sinner

Italy fans are torn this evening between watching the Nations League football match and tennis world number one Jannik Sinner in action in the ATP Finals.

“It’s not a dilemma, if anything it is wonderful to have two such wonderful sporting achievements to choose from,” assured Spalletti.

“I am convinced everyone will be channel-hopping back home and we’ll try to keep track of his match too.”

Sinner has climbed to the top of the world tennis ranking, so how can Italy’s football team learn from him?

“We must share his self-discipline, raising the bar every day to achieve something new. There must not be any limits in our minds, because once we achieve what we think is the ultimate, we must immediately start chasing the next target.”