Italy fails in Luciano Spalletti’s first match against North Macedonia: European Championship qualifiers are on the brink

Luciano Spalletti donned his elegant black suit again and didn’t think his “ruined evening” (Corriere della Sera) was so bad. “The team played well,” Spalletti said after his first appearance as Italy’s new coach.

Well, Spalletti said the grueling 1:1 (0:0) result in the European Championship qualifiers for North Macedonia was “a bad result”, but it was “a match that will serve as the basis for our further work”.

The words of the new “master” did not fit the image of captain Ciro Immobile at all, as the former Bundesliga star from Borussia Dortmund left the stadium in Skopje with tears in his eyes. At home, they’ve also judged the Azzurri’s performance a little differently than Spalletti’s. On Tuesday, European champions Italy are looking forward to what it looks like to play the final against Ukraine (8.45pm CEST) at next year’s European Championships in Germany. .

“A bitter start for the new coach,” Gazzetta dello Sport wrote. La Repubblica newspaper said: “False start for Spalletti.” “We must definitely beat Ukraine,” Immobile said before the confrontation in Milan.

The 33-year-old put his side ahead (47), but after that there wasn’t much going for the Italians against their fearsome opponent. Anis Bardi equalized from a direct free kick (81).

Spalletti and his comrades wanted to forget the disaster in Palermo, when Italy lost 1-0 to North Macedonia on the way to Qatar, thus missing out on the World Cup for the second time in a row. Now the defending champions are in danger of disaster.

In the fight to qualify for the European Championships, Italy are only third in Group C, three points behind Ukraine – although they have also played one game less. Almost everything is on the line for Italy and Spalletti on Tuesday. “This is a moment when we need to be more united,” Immobile said.