He had missed the September matches due to a scheduled operation and the October ones due to an injury, now Nicolò Barella is ready to wear the Azzurri jersey again four and a half months after the last time, in the unfortunate match with Switzerland that cost them elimination from the European Championships. The Cagliari midfielder will do it again tonight at 20:45 in Brussels in Belgium-Italy, the fifth day of Group 2 of League A of the Uefa Nations League . The Azzurri only need a point to go to the quarterfinals, otherwise everything will be postponed until Sunday when France will arrive at the Meazza.
Luciano Spalletti, in the pre-match press conference, anticipated how Barella will be a starter and an attacking midfielder in the lineup: "We need a player who knows how to play that role well, link the midfield with the team's counterattacks, know how to exchange positions with the others, who has offensive skills. Barella has all this, we were expecting him and it is likely that he will be on the pitch ." As a mezzala, however, his Inter teammate Davide Frattesi is likely to be there.
Yesterday, the national team, the coach and the federal president Gabriele Gravina paid homage, with a minute of silence, to the victims of the May 1985 massacre at Heysel, on the occasion of the Champions Cup final between Juventus and Liverpool . All the players who will take to the field were obviously not born there but they know that drama well. "It was a terrible tragedy: we will do everything on the field to honor the memory of those who are no longer with us", promised Andrea Cambiaso, alongside Luciano Spalletti in yesterday's press conference. While the coach had a thought for the return of Claudio Ranieri to Roma, official this afternoon: "He has deep knowledge of those places, he comes from Testaccio. It's a choice made well. I think he has everything necessary to be able to do well and resolve things".
These are the probable lineups for Belgium-Italy: kick-off at 20.45, referee: Romanian Radu Petrescu .
Belgium (4-2-3-1): Casteels; De Cuyper, Faes, Debast, Theate; Onana, Mangala; Bakayoko, Trossard, Openda; Lukaku. Coach: Tedesco.
