Italy kicked off their Euro 2024 campaign with a 2-1 victory over Albania, with goals from Alessandro Bastoni and Nicolò Barella. After the match, Luciano Spalletti spoke to the media on Rai 1;
The head coach discussed the hard-fought victory. “We saw many good things, but they must lead somewhere; otherwise, they are meaningless. We had opportunities to create more dangerous chances, but we didn’t capitalize on them. We prepared the attacking moves well, but then we retreated too often. We changed our approach too frequently and too quickly.”
Spalletti continued, “Barella? This is a national team that can do without anyone because I have 26 strong players. It’s not good to communicate that we depend on a single individual.”
Finally, the coach concluded, “In the second half, they tried to do something more, and in those moments, we need to create more opportunities instead of being drawn back by their defensive line.”
