Nicolo Barella doesn’t mince words about Luciano Spalletti

Nicolò Barella speaks from the national team’s retreat

Nicolò Barella spoke Thursday at a press conference from the national team retreat: the Inter Milan midfielder, the only Italian among the 30 candidates for the 2023 Ballon d'Oro, spoke about the new course on the Azzurri bench, tagged Luciano Spalletti.

"With me è he was immediately honest – said the Sardinian athlete, speaking of the coach from Certaldo -: he criticizes me if there's something to criticize and compliments me when he considers it correct. He's a straightforward person, this thing jumps out at once. From the tactical point of view, every coach has his own characteristics and he exploits those of his players, he has already given us great ideas: it is up to us to interpret them on the field, in our own way".

Against North Madedonia and Ukraine the è imperative is to collect six points and avoid risks towards Euro 2024 qualification: "We need two wins – Barella confirmed -. Already on Saturday it will be a difficult match, we have a bad memory of the last time we met them".

The reference è to the challenge that ousted Italy from Qatar 2022: "That night in Palermo, I speak for myself, I felt too much the weight of that match – explained the midfielder -. As a team we were conditioned by the thought of not deserving to be theì, there&39;was annoyance because we&39;d have dbeen able to avoid playing a four-way playoff. It è not a justification, but it took away our clarity ".