Spalletti: ‘Italy must grab opportunities that pass by’ at EURO 2024

Luciano Spalletti warns Italy that the EURO 2024 opener against Albania is representative of life. ‘You must make choices and grab those opportunities as they pass you by.’

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.

The Azzurri are back in the Dortmund arena where they beat hosts Germany in the dramatic 2006 World Cup semi-final, on their way to lifting the trophy.

It is their opening game of EURO 2024, with patches on their jerseys noting they are the reigning Champions of Europe.

“Clearly, we go into all these emotions and situations, but these are above all opportunities that pass you by. To give a sense to your life, you must make choices and grab those opportunities. So there is no greater scenario than this,” Spalletti told Sky Sport Italia.

When Italy outfield players emerged for the warm-up, it became evident just how many of the fans in the stadium are there for Albania rather than Italy.

“There are many more of their fans than ours, that makes it even more fun!” smiled the coach.

Spalletti wants to express Italy quality

Spalletti has adopted a new 4-2-3-1 formation, which mutates to three at the back when Giovanni Di Lorenzo tucks in and Federico Dimarco can push forward.

“When we play football, we want to make our quality count, to show what kind of people we are, and we cannot wait to get started.”

This is going to be a particularly crucial result, as Spain beat Croatia 3-0 in the other group game, with goals from Alvaro Morata, Fabian Ruiz and Dani Carvajal, while Unai Simon saved the Bruno Petkovic penalty.

Italy’s next match is against Spain on June 20, then Croatia on June 24.