Italy Faces Difficult Spell in Nations League
Gabriele Oriali did not bother dressing it up. Italy, he warned, is walking into “a difficult spell.”
The Azzurri gathered at Coverciano today to begin preparations for a demanding Nations League run that will test both their football and their nerve. Belgium await on Friday, followed by trips to Turkiye on September 28 and France on October 2. Vincenzo Montella’s Turkey then come to Italy on October 5, before the group closes with France on November 12 and Belgium on November 15.
It is a heavy schedule. And it comes at a delicate moment.
Mancini and Oriali back in the fold
Roberto Mancini is back on the Italy bench. At his side again, just as in previous cycles, stands team manager Gabriele Oriali, a figure who has lived almost every shade of the Azzurri experience.
“It is certainly not the best moment for Italian football, we know that we are heading into a difficult spell,” Oriali told Rai 2, setting the tone for this new chapter rather than pretending all is well.
He wants this group to look the situation in the eye.
“The lads need to recognise that too. The important thing is for everyone to understand the moment, share it, have collective responsibility, respect and a little discipline, all of which never hurts.
“It is by finding that team spirit, that group togetherness, that we can then achieve results.”
So the message from Coverciano is clear: no shortcuts, no illusions. Italy will lean on unity, not nostalgia, as Mancini and Oriali try to reboot a side that has lost its way too often in recent years.
A fractured backdrop: the Mazzola incident
That idea of “togetherness” jarred sharply with what Italian football witnessed in Turin at the weekend.
During a minute’s silence in honour of Sandro Mazzola – an icon of Inter, a legend of the Italy shirt – a section of Juventus ultras turned their backs on the pitch. On a night when Serie A paused to remember one of its greats, part of the curva chose defiance over respect.
For Oriali, who shared a dressing room with Mazzola at Inter, the gesture cut deep.
“I remember the first training sessions at the Pinetina, Mazzola was one of those who welcomed me with open arms,” he said, recalling the early days of his career.
“He gave me a lift home one day after training, people couldn’t believe it when they saw him. I have only fond memories of him as a teammate and a person, without forgetting he was also a great director who brought Ronaldo to Serie A.”
That is the scale of the man being discussed: a star as a player, a key figure behind one of the most important transfers in Italian football history, and a symbol of an era.
To see his memory treated with contempt infuriated Oriali.
“The ultras turning their backs was an ugly image. I hope that these people can be identified and left out of the stadium, it’s shameful. There are champions who go beyond the jerseys they wear, and this was just a deplorable gesture.”
His words land with weight. Italy’s team manager is not just talking about an isolated act in a single stadium; he is pointing at a deeper fracture, a tribalism that refuses to soften even for the dead.
As Mancini and Oriali try to rebuild an Azzurri side on the principles of respect, discipline and shared responsibility, they do so against a backdrop that sometimes seems determined to pull the game apart. The fixtures are already brutal. The real test may be whether this Italy can rediscover a sense of common purpose that some in the stands appear intent on abandoning.
