Macedonia-Italy: Donnarumma, Di Lorenzo, Barella and Politano. Spalletti’s knights

They say about him that in his career he has never had children or stepchildren, and it is not surprising: without bothering Totti or Icardi, because it would be banal, there are choices of Luciano Spalletti, even much less media-focused but no less rigorous , which tell of an absolute sense of justice applied to his team management. It won’t be the fact of sitting on the bench of the national team that will change him in this. But then there are the men who it is natural, physiological, to trust blindly: a question of in-depth knowledge, or of technical and tactical characteristics, which go well with his idea of ​​football. Certainties that Spalletti has considered as such from the first day of work in Coverciano. Let’s assume one per department, among the eleven tonight. There would have been a fifth, Federico Chiesa, if yesterday morning an adductor had not advised avoiding risks and diplomatic cases. A sixth can be considered Jack Raspadori, whose different interpretation of the center forward role Spalletti appreciates at least as much as that of Immobile. Maybe we will be able to define Gianluca Mancini as “his him his man” if he plays a great game after being defrosted by the coach, given that he has not been in the national team for 15 months. But Donnarumma-Di Lorenzo-Barella-Politano is a poker that Spalletti was immediately able to “see” in the dark. The entire right area of ​​the field: we’ll see if Italy will lean towards that side also in the maneuver.

calm serenity

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In reality, Gigio has always been a certainty for Ventura and Mancini too. And he would almost certainly be one, like Barella, for any coach. Spalletti obviously knows Meret better than him, but you don’t need to have trained him to trust Donnarumma. That the closeness of Buffon, and the little words, the advice, which the head of the delegation has not hidden from spending in recent days, are making – as Gigio said – even more certain. “I left him as a boy and found him as a man,” Gigi said. And this is the Donnarumma that Spalletti is getting to know: a boy who also guarantees that inner tranquility that is a guarantee for two such delicate matches.

the other captain

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The coach can consider Giovanni Di Lorenzo his tactical modifier and at the same time his dressing room thermometer. You don’t give the captain’s armband, as Spalletti did in Napoli, to a player whose qualities of intelligence, charisma and empathy are not recognised. With whom a relationship of total trust is not established. Off the pitch, Di Lorenzo not only conveys in words the meaning of what Lucio asks of a team, in terms of attitudes, behaviors and approach to work. A verb that a practical example makes more easily understandable. How indispensable Di Lorenzo has become for the application of his footballing principles is a matter of study, which speaks of a total evolution: even in the national team, Di Lorenzo will be the winger who becomes an extra man in midfield, a bit like second director and a bit of a midfielder, if possible also a goal man. He is the guardian and interpreter of mechanisms for an Italy that is also as illegible as possible.

nick and matte

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The extent to which Spalletti is betting on Barella can, if necessary, also be revealed in an interview revealed by the Inter fan himself: “He told me with total honesty what he likes and what he likes less than me.” That Nicolò could be the perfect midfielder for the coach and his football made up of continuous insertions and changes of position is demonstrated by the facts and also by his evolution into an even more attacking and attacking midfielder. Spalletti asked him to become even more of a “right” driver for this national team: the one who makes the difference also, above all, in the matches that matter most. At 26 he wants him to be a leader without any doubts: if he only needs one more step for the definitive leap in quality, he will be happy to accompany him in the final approach. And Barella, he said, will be “one hundred percent happy to listen to him”: a give and take that is almost a pact. What Matteo Politano instinctively did with Spalletti since they found themselves working together at Inter and then at Napoli, guaranteeing him the reliability of a “team” offensive winger. The coach alternated him in the role with Lozano, but asked Politano’s perpetual motion to do double work, therefore also covering, which is more necessary for more complicated matches. He will also serve tonight in Skopje. And even more so after losing Chiesa on the other side, Spalletti knows with certainty at least who and what he can count on, there on the right.