Italy-Belgium: Maldini and Romano called up, but Esposito is dismissed and sent to the stands.
Mancini has ruled out eleven players ahead of the match at the Olimpico in Rome.Per restare aggiornato entra nel nostro canale Whatsapp
Daniel Maldini and Alessandro Romano, yes, but Sebastiano Esposito, no. These are Roberto Mancini's selections for tonight's Italy-Belgium Nations League match (8:45 PM), given that UEFA regulations stipulate a maximum of twenty-three players can be on the squad list, and the Azzurri's squad consists of thirty-four. Consequently, the new/former coach has had to make some cuts, including the former Cagliari striker, who moved to Sassuolo after a stormy summer .
Romano, on the other hand, is moving towards his debut, following the issue surrounding his nationality switch from Switzerland to Italy : the Cagliari midfielder is among the likely starters against Belgium and – if so – would become the twenty-third Rossoblu player. He could immediately move up to twenty-four if Maldini were to play, likely during the match, with the latter returning to the national team a year after his last appearance.
This is the list of players called up by Mancini for Italy-Belgium, with their shirt numbers : those excluded are goalkeeper Massimo Pessina, defenders Alessandro Bastoni (serving a suspension for his sending off against Bosnia), Daniele Ghilardi, Eddy Kouadio and Matteo Ruggeri, midfielders Nicolò Fagioli and Samuele Ricci and – with Esposito – forwards Samuele Inácio, Antonio Vergara and Nicolò Zaniolo.
Goalkeepers: 12 Marco Carnesecchi (Atalanta), 1 Gianluigi Donnarumma (Manchester City), 14 Guglielmo Vicario (Juventus);
Defenders: 3 Honest Ahanor (Crystal Palace), 5 Riccardo Calafiori (Arsenal), 6 Diego Coppola (Paris FC), 22 Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), 2 Michael Kayode (Brentford), 23 Gianluca Mancini (Roma), 19 Giorgio Scalvini (Atalanta);
Midfielders: 18 Nicolò Barella (Inter), 15 Issa Doumbia (Sporting CP), 16 Davide Frattesi (Lazio), 13 Rolando Mandragora (Torino), 4 Alessandro Romano (Cagliari), 8 Sandro Tonali (Tottenham), 17 Mohamed Alì Zoma (Nuremberg);
Forwards: 21 Nicolò Cambiaghi (Bologna), 7 Francesco Pio Esposito (Inter), 9 Moise Kean (Como), 20 Daniel Maldini (Cagliari), 10 Giacomo Raspadori (Atalanta), 11 Gianluca Scamacca (Atalanta).