Italy, heading to Estonia there are already six untouchables for Gennaro Gattuso
Italy toward the crucial match against Estonia, a crossroads not to be missed on the road to the 2026 World Cup. Coach Gennaro Gattuso knows it well, who in the Azzurri’s first weekly commitment preceding the one with Israel browses through the roster of players available. And, although he still has some doubts about the form to be used, he seems to have already defined the key men of his national team.
In the Friday training session leading up to the match scheduled in Tallinn for Saturday evening, Gattuso sent his Italy team onto the field with both the now well-trodden 4-2-3-1 and a more unusual 4-4-2. Clearly, in both cases, the men he will field in the center are crucial. And in each of the departments, the Azzurri coach already seems to have several certainties.
The first concerns the defense, where there are now two almost untouchable bulwarks. These are Alessandro Bastoni and Riccardo Calafiori, extremely reliable in closing down but both capable of making an important contribution in the building phase. The offensive action, when needed, can start from them as well. And the’one can also be a viable alternative to the’other.
In the midfield, Nicolò Barella, central in the path of Italy’European champion in 2021 with Roberto Mancini as coach, but who had meanwhile experienced a phase of tarnishing, has been reborn. Now it all seems to be behind him, and in the meantime Sandro Tonali has also returned central after the notorious travails of recent seasons. And in attack Gattuso is not renouncing the double striker, just as Carlo Ancelotti deployed Milan in which the same “Ringhio” represented a fundamental dam in the midfield.
Moise Kean and Mateo Retegui, who contended for the title of top scorer in last season’s Serie A, are not in a relay but ready to take the field alongside each other. For an offensive department that, from a weak link, could become a strength for Italy.
