Italy has not yet given up the Nation League quarter-finals before the second leg against Germany and is combative. There wasn’t much missing in the first leg either.
In Germany, the twisted first leg was cheered, which the DFB team won 2-1 despite the deficit. They cheered the beautiful story with returnee and scorer Leon Goretzka, about the strong Tim Kleindienst, about a good mentality and the decisions of the national coach. Correctly.
Baumann and poor degrees prevent more goals
The truth also includes that this game could have ended differently. Because the Italian team had an overall chance technology. It took Oliver Baumann and a pinch of luck several times to stay with just one goal until the final whistle.
Even in the second half, in which the Germans were better than the hosts, Giacomo Raspadori or Moise Kean could have hit, the former even had to. On the other hand, Gianluigi Donnarumma actually had hardly any noteworthy parade and the remaining German chances were also more “half”.
The Italian press also saw it similarly: “Italy did not deserve the defeat”for example in “Corriere dello sport”: “Spalletti’s troops develop many opportunities, but wastes too much. The qualification is still possible.”
Spalletti must change
Accordingly, Italy’s coach Luciano Spalletti did not want to go off despite the home defeat before the return game on Sunday in Dortmund (here from 8.45 p.m. live in the radio stream and in the ticker): “A few scenes have led to this result.” The 66-year-old announced: “We will be even better with our character in Dortmund.”
He will change – and have to change. Defender Riccardo Calafiori fails that the knee was cheated and sprained, it said by the Italian team. Alessandro Buongiorno is the hottest candidate to replace Calafiori in the triple chain.
In addition, according to Italian media, Daniel Maldini is said to come forward to his starting eleventh for the Squadra Azzurra. For example, the son of football icon Paolo Maldini could replace Raspadori.
More body length and the spirit of Dortmund
Both changes also have a very special consequence: the Italian starting eleven would clearly gain body length. With its 1.90 meters, Buongiorno is at least two centimeters larger than Calafiori, Maldini would be 16 centimeters longer than the 1.72 m large Raspadori. Spalletti had also analyzed that in the first leg – both German goals fell through head balls and were achieved by Goretzka (1.89 m) and small service (1.94 m).
And in addition to the purely sporting analysis, Dortmund is also a sensitive plaster for Italian-German duels. In 2006 Italy won 2-0 in the semi -finals of the World Cup and ended Germany’s hopes of the title in his own country. A 2-0 would also be enough for Spalletti’s team on Sunday.