The reigning EUROs champions will look to defend their title after missing out on the World Cup in Qatar. Questions have been asked about the strength of their squad, but could the 9th ranked team in the world prove people wrong this summer?

Luciano Spalletti's #Azzurri squad for #EURO2024 🇮🇹 💪#VivoAzzurro pic.twitter.com/RsMHbiAMoj

— Italy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@Azzurri_En) June 6, 2024

SQUAD:

Goalkeepers Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG), Alex Meret (Napoli), Guglielmo Vicario (Tottenham Hotspur)

Defenders Alessandro Bastoni (Inter Milan), Raoul Bellanova (Torino), Alessandro Buongiorno (Torino), Riccardo Calafiori (Bologna), Andrea Cambiaso (Juventus), Matteo Darmian (Inter Milan), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Federico Dimarco (Inter Milan), Federico Gatti (Juventus), Gianluca Mancini (Roma)

Midfielders Nicolo Barella (Inter Milan), Bryan Cristante (Roma), Nicolo Fagioli (Juventus), Michael Folorunsho (Verona), Davide Frattesi (Inter Milan), Jorginho (Arsenal), Lorenzo Pellegrini (Roma)

Forwards Federico Chiesa (Juventus), Stephan El Shaarawy (Roma), Giacomo Raspadori (Napoli), Mateo Retegui (Genoa), Gianluca Scamacca (Atalanta), Mattia Zaccagni (Lazio)

Some big names miss out on a place on the plane to Germany, with Francesco Acerbi, Destiny Udogie and Nicolo Zaniolo all out with injuries. Manuel Locatelli, Leonardo Spinazzola and Marco Verratti have also been omitted from the squad.

Manuel Locatelli's latest Instagram story 👀

He's out of words after not being called up to the Italy squad for the Euros. pic.twitter.com/ayBbZvz0Vc

— Get Italian Football News (@_GIFN) May 23, 2024

In the last EUROs it was Italy’s midfield which impressed the most, so you would expect Jorginho to continue that into this competition and control the tempo of games.

The Azzurri missed out on a place in Qatar 2022, so they have a lot to prove to put themselves back on the map. Being put into a tough group (B) alongside Spain, Croatia and Albania, you would expect Italy to have to put in a couple of very strong performances to guarantee themselves a place in the last 16.

GROUP FIXTURES

Saturday 15th June: Italy vs Albania (20:00 BST). Thursday 20th June: Spain vs Italy (20:00 BST) Monday 24th June: Croatia vs Italy (20:00 BST)

PLAYER TO WATCH Unlike other years there isn’t really one superstar name expected to shine for the Azzurri, but you would expect Federico Chiesa to play a big part in their attacking force, as he did in 2020 when they won the tournament.

PREDICTION Due to being in a difficult group with other successful sides in Spain and Croatia, I expect Italy to battle it out for second place in the group. A likely finish for the side would be to exit the competition in the quarter-finals.