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EURO 2024: Italy to implement changes after Spain loss

Italy coach Luciano Spalletti plans changes for their final Group B match against Croatia in EURO 2024 following their 1-0 defeat to Spain.

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Italy to make changes vs Croatia

Spalletti said his side’s failure to match Spain’s pace and energy compels him to implement a lineup change.

“After a game like that, the idea of being able to change something is there.Because I probably made a mistake not to change before, looking at the performance against Spain,” Spalletti told reporters.

“But the team against Albania seemed so good to me that I thought it was a gamble to change things. Now that we have noticed a bit of fatigue, a bit of rustiness, something will surely change.”

Riccardo Calafiori’s own goal allowed Spain to exact revenge against their EURO 2020 final tormentors.

After a long discussion within the Azzurri squad, Spalletti stated is time for them to walk the talk.

“We analysed it and talked about it, we took a step back in terms of what we’d seen in matches coming into that one.”

“I expect to see that the game against Spain taught us some lessons, even though we played badly and suffered because of how it ended.

“Now we have to put facts before us and leave the words aside.”

Change in playing style

Italy is renowned for their “Catenaccio” (“door bolt”) play, but Spalletti insisted that style have no place in modern football.

“Football today is no longer just about doing one thing, you have to know how to do more than one,” Spalletti said.

“Given Croatia’s quality, sometimes we will be forced to defend with 11 players, to compact and then turn the action around without allowing the opponents to recompose a defensive phase.

“It’s clear that in today’s football you can’t do it in the whole game, you can’t just live on low defence and restarts.”