Italy Faces Difficult Times in Nations League

Gabriele Oriali did not bother dressing it up. Italy, he warned, is walking straight into “a difficult spell.”

The Azzurri regrouped at Coverciano today, the familiar training base suddenly feeling like the start of a new chapter and a reckoning at the same time. Roberto Mancini is back on the bench. Oriali is back alongside him as team manager. The Nations League, though, offers no soft landing.

Italy open against Belgium on Friday, then head to Turkiye on September 28 and France on October 2. Vincenzo Montella’s Turkish side then visit Italy on October 5, before the group closes with France on November 12 and Belgium on November 15. It is a schedule without a breather.

Oriali knows it.

“It is certainly not the best moment for Italian football, we know that we are heading into a difficult spell,” he told Rai 2, laying down a challenge as much as an assessment.

The message to the squad is blunt: no hiding, no excuses.

“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.”

A call for unity as Italy fractures

That appeal for unity jars with what is happening elsewhere in Italian football.

On Sunday, during a minute’s silence to honour Sandro Mazzola, Juventus ultras turned their backs on the pitch. While stadium screens paid tribute to one of the greats of Inter and the national team, a section of fans chose to make a statement of their own.

For Oriali, who lived that era and knew Mazzola personally, it cut deep.

“I remember the first training sessions at the Pinetina, Mazzola was one of those who welcomed me with open arms,” the former Inter midfielder recalled.

“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.”

Those memories stand in stark contrast to the images from Turin.

“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.”

As Italy try to rebuild around Mancini and Oriali, the message from Coverciano is clear: the shirt, the history, the shared responsibility come first. The question now is whether a fragmented football culture can rediscover that sense of belonging in time for a brutal Nations League run.