Overview
- Italy lost 2-0 to Belgium on Friday, prompting Mancini to change approach and prioritize fresh legs and match minutes for younger players.
- The coach left 10 of 33 call-ups at Coverciano to manage workload and keep them for the Paris and Bologna fixtures, creating a smaller travelling squad for Bursa.
- Nicolò Zaniolo returned home because of a recurrence of a right-thigh strain, removing him from immediate selection and highlighting the medical reason for rotation.
- Bad weather in Bursa cancelled the morning on-field session, so the team did a hotel wake-up and a video meeting, and Mancini named a younger attack with Pio Esposito, Sebastiano Esposito and Giacomo Raspadori.
- The selection balances short-term stakes — avoiding a bottom-place finish and possible relegation from Nations League Tier 1 — with a longer-term plan to evaluate talent under match conditions during a tightly compressed international window.