The defending champions of the European Cup, Gli Azzurri, Italy, are in a tough group at UEFA Euro 2024, aka the 2024 UEFA European Championship, aka the 2024 European Cup, which will be held in Germany from June 14 to July 14, 2024. Italy is in Group B with Spain, Croatia, and Albania.
Group B is said to be a tough group because there are the Spanish and Croatian Matador teams. Everyone knows that Spain is one of the strongest teams in Europe at the moment.
Croatia, although not as strong as Spain, the team from the Balkan country has great players. Many of the Croatian players are even the mainstays of elite European clubs. For example, Luka Modric (Real Madrid’s mainstay), Matteo Kovacic (Manchester City’s mainstay), or Mario Pasalic (Atalanta’s mainstay).
Maybe only Albania in Group B is considered the weakest. But Albania also cannot be underestimated. Albania could be a dark horse and make a surprise at the 2024 European Cup.
For a team like Italy, qualifying from the group stage to the knockout phase of the last 16 is probably not too difficult. Despite being in a fairly tough group, at least Italy can qualify for the last 16 with the status of runner-up of Group B.
Italy can achieve that scenario, for example by winning against Albania. Then Gli Azzurri draws against Spain and Croatia. With that scenario, Italy will get 5 points. That many points are enough to qualify Italy for the next round.
That is the worst case scenario for Italy. The best scenario is of course Italy is able to collect 9 points by defeating Spain, Croatia, and Albania in the Group B phase matches.
If Italy wins Group B, in the last 16 they will meet the third place in Group A/Group D/Group E/Group F. Maybe Switzerland/Hungary, maybe Austria/Poland, maybe Ukraine/Slovakia, maybe Turkey/Czech Republic.
Furthermore, if Italy becomes runner-up of Group B, in the last 16 they will meet the runner-up of Group A. Maybe Switzerland, maybe Scotland, but it could also be Hungary.
What if Italy finishes third in Group B? If that happens, Italy will meet the winner of Group F or the winner of Group E. Most likely Portugal or Belgium.
Despite all that, the Italian team is still one of the teams that deserves to be favored. Currently, Gli Azzurri has many players who are quite reliable. There are 26 players who will be brought to Germany by the Italian coach, Luciano Spaletti. They are 3 goalkeepers, 10 defenders, 7 midfielders, and 6 forwards.
Here is the Italian squad for Euro 2024 Germany. Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint Germain), Alex Meret (Napoli), and Guglielmo Vicario (Tottenham Hotspur).
Defenders: Alessandro Bastoni (Inter Milan), Alessandro Buongiomo (Torino), Raoul Bellanova (Torino), Andrea Cambiaso (Juventus), Riccardo Calafiori (Bologna), Matteo Darmian (Inter Milan), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Federico Dimarco (Inter Milan), Gianluca Mancini (AS Roma), and Federico Gatti (Juventus).
Midfielders: Jorginho (Arsenal), Nicolo Barella (Inter Milan), Bryan Cristante (AS Roma), Michael Folorunsho (Hellas Verona), Nicolo Fagioli (Juventus), Davide Frattesi (Inter Milan), and Lorenzo Pellegrini (AS Roma).
Forwards: Stephan El Sharawy (AS Roma), Federico Chiesa (Juventus), Giacomo Raspadori (Napoli), Mateo Retegui (Genoa), Mattia Zaccagni (Lazio), and Gianluca Scamacca (Atalanta).
The Italian squad may not be the best squad. However, with this squad, Italy still has the potential to win the European Cup again. If Italy wins the European Cup again in Germany later, Gli Azzurri will follow the record of the Spanish Matador team who won the European Cup twice in a row.
As is known, so far no team has been able to win the European Cup twice in a row other than the Spanish team. Spain won the European Cup consecutively, namely in 2008 and 2012.
Will Italy be victorious again at the 2024 European Cup in Germany later? The answer is of course only two, maybe yes and maybe no. Yes or no, we’ll see later.
ASL
