During the press conference held on the eve of the match against Belgium, the national team coach Luciano Spalletti explained the absence of Mattia Zaccagni from the list of players called up as follows. “He left aside players like Zaccagni, Politano and Rovella. Should we expect these sacrifices to seek stability and continuity in the 3-5-2?”, the question he was asked. This is the coach’s response: “We don’t sacrifice anyone, we don’t want to kill anyone. Preferring is already different. Zaccagni asked him to stay out because he has a problem to resolve. On Rovella I say that there are two others who are as young as him and they showed us that they were good on the pitch, we preferred these two (Ricci and Fagioli, ed.)”.
And again: “If I call up Rovella you can ask me why I didn’t call up those who had done well, they have the same qualities, they are young people with an important future and who still have all their skills to show. Rovella was among those pre-called up, I could have brought him inside and do it again like I did last time, keeping some players out during training. I’m bringing two more players into the squad. Then who’s in the squad? started playing only now, Politano we continue to follow him and we know everything, even what you don’t know. We decided to do this, but we don’t throw anything away.”
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