Today, September 12 in Milan, the Ukraine national team will play their fifth Euro-2024 qualifying match against Italy (kick-off at 9:45 PM). Here is our opponent.

Italy

General Information

As of July 2023, Italy held the eighth position in the official FIFA ranking. Their first match in history was played on May 15, 1910 against France (6-2), their biggest victory came on August 2, 1948 over the United States (9-0), and their worst defeat occurred on April 6, 1924 at the hands of Hungary (1-7).

The Italy national team — four-time world champions (1934, 1938, 1982, 2006), two-time European champions (1968, 2020), Olympic Games champion (1936), twice the bronze medalist of the Nations League (2021, 2023), silver medalist of the Finalissima (2022).

Squad

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Donnarumma ("Paris Saint-Germain", France), Alex Meret ("Napoli"), Ivan Provedel ("Lazio"), Giulio Vecchi ("Tottenham", England).

Defenders: Alessandro Bastoni, Matteo Darmian, Federico Dimarco (all — "Inter"), Cristiano Biraghi ("Fiorentina"), Nicolo Casale, Alessio Romagnoli (both — "Lazio"), Giovanni Di Lorenzo ("Napoli"), Leonardo Spinazzola ("Rome"), Giorgio Scalvini ("Atalanta").

Midfielders: Nicolò Barella, Davide Frattesi (both — "Inter"), Bryan Cristante ("Rome"), Manuel Locatelli ("Juventus"), Matteo Pessina ("Monza"), Sandro Tonali ("Newcastle", England).

Forwards: Wilfried Zaha («Leeds», England), Ciro Immobile, Mattia D'Avanzo (both — "Lazio"), Matteo Politano, Giacomо Raspadori (both — "Napoli"), Mateo Reteghi ("Genoa"), Nicolò Zaniolo («Aston Villa», England), Riccardo Orsolini («Bologna»).

Head Coach

The Italian national team is coached by 64-year-old professional Luciano Spalletti. He took over the position on September 1 of this year, replacing Roberto Mancini.

Before being appointed as head coach of the national team, Spalletti worked at "Empoli", "Sampdoria", "Venice", "Udinese", "Ancona", "Rome", "Zenit", "Inter" and "Napoli". With "Rome" he became a two-time winner of the Italian Cup (2006/2007, 2007/2008) and the Italian Super Cup (2007), with "Napoli" — the champion of Italy (2022/2023).

Under Spalletti's leadership, Italy played one match against North Macedonia which ended in a draw (1-1).

Leader

The leader of the Italian national team is 33-year-old forward Ciro Immobile. On his account, there are 57 matches and 17 goals for the national team.

Since July 2016, he has been playing for "Lazio" (242 matches, 163 goals). His resume also includes "Juventus", "Genoa", "Torino", Borussia Dortmund and "Sevilla".

With "Lazio", Ciro won the Italian Cup (2018/2019) and twice — the Italian Super Cup (2017, 2019), with Borussia Dortmund — the German Super Cup (2014). He is a champion of Europe in 2020. Recognized as the best forward of Serie A (2019/2020, 2021/2022) and athlete of the year in Italy (2020).

Immobile primarily plays as a center-forward but can play on any position in attack. He has excellent speed and is known for his attacking breaks. He has an incredible goal-scoring sense, works well at finishing, is extremely technical and strong in the second phase of play. Additionally — he participates in ball recovery. Immobile is the designated penalty taker for the Italian national team. He has the nickname King Ciro.

The authoritative portal Transfermarkt estimates the transfer value of Ciro Immobile at 15 million euros.