Italy's Tough Challenge Ahead in Nations League

Gabriele Oriali didn’t bother dressing it up. Italy, he warned, is walking into “a difficult spell.”

The Azzurri gathered at Coverciano today to start work on a demanding Nations League run that feels like more than just a set of fixtures. It looks like a stress test for an entire movement.

Belgium arrive first on Friday. Then come trips to Turkiye on September 28 and France on October 2. Vincenzo Montella’s Turkish side visit Italy on October 5, before the group closes with France on November 12 and Belgium on November 15. No breathers. No soft landings.

Oriali and Mancini, back at the helm

It’s not only Roberto Mancini who has stepped back into the national-team frame. At his side again is team manager Gabriele Oriali, a familiar figure from Italy’s recent past and a voice that still carries weight in Coverciano’s corridors.

“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.

The message to the squad was blunt.

“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.”

No tactical breakdowns. No talk of systems or shapes. Oriali went straight to the intangibles: attitude, unity, accountability. Italy’s reboot, in his eyes, will start in the dressing room, not on the tactics board.

A divided backdrop

While Oriali preached togetherness, Italian football offered up a very different image over the weekend.

At San Siro, during a minute’s silence to honour Sandro Mazzola – the Italy and Inter icon – a section of Juventus ultras turned their backs on the pitch. A gesture that cut across the moment and jarred with the rest of the stadium’s respect.

For Oriali, who lived those Inter years alongside Mazzola, it struck a nerve.

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

From the warmth of that memory, the contrast with what happened in the stands could not have been starker.

“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.”

The word “shameful” hung in the air. Not just as a condemnation of one group of fans, but as a warning sign of a fractured climate around the game.

A test of character on and off the pitch

As Italy prepare to run the gauntlet of Belgium, Turkiye and France, Oriali’s two messages – unity in Coverciano, respect in the stands – feel tightly connected.

He wants a squad that understands the weight of the shirt and the fragility of the moment. He wants a football culture that can still agree on its heroes, regardless of club colours.

The fixtures are set. The calendar is brutal. The results will tell their own story.

The real question is whether Italy can rediscover that “group togetherness” Oriali keeps insisting on, in a country where even a minute’s silence can no longer be taken for granted.