MILAN: Luciano Spalletti leads Italy into a symbolic debut on Saturday (9th of September, 2023) as the Azzurri travel to North Macedonia in Euro 2024 qualifying, a chance to exorcise the ghosts of World Cup disaster.

Italy has been going through something of an identity crisis for nearly two decades, unsure of its position in the global game and no longer feared as in decades past.
It was Group C opponents North Macedonia who sparked the most recent bout of self-reflection by dumping Italy out of the last World Cup in last year’s qualifying play-offs.
That single-goal disaster in Palermo didn’t just leave Italy out of a second straight World Cup, it also wiped out the enormous amount of goodwill earned from triumph at the last Euro which made national heroes of the team and Spalletti’s predecessor Roberto Mancini.
But in his presentation press conference, Spalletti urged his team and fans to forget the bitterness of that result and focus on the future.
And goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma agrees, even if he admitted that the players “are still angry” about missing out on the Qatar tournament.
“It’s not really revenge that drives us, because we want to focus on ourselves, but we know how important this match is and what happened the last time we played them,” Donnarumma told reporters.
Italy travel to Skopje for one of two matches which could decide their fate for next summer’s tournament in Germany, where they are aiming to defend the Euro crown.
Ukraine will visit the San Siro on Tuesday night and after that match, Italy will be hoping to be second to runaway group leaders England in the automatic Euro spots.
Italy currently sits third on three points, nine behind England who have played two games more and more importantly three away from Ukraine.
And new coach Spalletti, brought in after guiding Napoli to their first league title since 1990, has been tasked with rejuvenating a team that had begun to look tired long before Mancini jumped ship to Saudi Arabia last month.

AFP/APP/Newspakistan.tv