Giorgio Chiellini sees “hunger to do well” in the Nations League clash with Poland this evening and trusts Gigi Buffon will return for Italy, one way or another.
The UEFA Nations League campaign kicks off at the Stadio Dall’Ara in Bologna at 19.45 UK time (18.45 GMT).
Click here for the line-ups and Liveblog.
“We begin again with a great deal of hunger to do well,” the captain told Rai Sport.
Giorgio Chiellini sees “hunger to do well” in the Nations League clash with Poland this evening and trusts Gigi Buffon will return for Italy, one way or another.
The UEFA Nations League campaign kicks off at the Stadio Dall’Ara in Bologna at 19.45 UK time (18.45 GMT).
Click here for the line-ups and Liveblog.
“We begin again with a great deal of hunger to do well,” the captain told Rai Sport.
“This new tournament can help us improve the FIFA ranking and gain confidence. It’s a match we care about and hope to emerge with a victory.
“There’s a lot of enthusiasm around the side and the atmosphere at Coverciano in training over the last few days has been one of positivity brought in by the young players, so we’re trying to look to the future and not the past.”
This is the first competitive Italy match since 2006 with no World Cup winners in the squad, as Buffon and Daniele De Rossi were not called up.
“Buffon loves this jersey too much to close the door on it definitively. Whether he is here as a goalkeeper in future or another role, he’ll never be completely done with the Nazionale.”
Italy’s next opponents on Monday are Portugal in Lisbon, but Chiellini’s new Juventus teammate Cristiano Ronaldo won’t be taking part.
“When you change environment after many years the way he did, it can be helpful to stop and focus on this new club. These are two difficult games for us and Cristiano’s absence inevitably helps us, but there are many quality players in the side.”