By Anna Italia
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Italian Soccer Serie A

Italy Head Coach Roberto Mancini called up 31 players for their final two tests of 2022 with friendly games against Albania on 16 November at 20:45 CET, at Air Albania stadium in Tirana.  This game will mark the 400th game in Italy’s history (194 wins, 115 draws, and 90 losses).  The second game will be against Austria on 20 November at 20.45 CET, at Ernst Happel Stadion in Vienna.

As reported by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), players will meet up at Coverciano on Sunday 13 November. There is a first senior call-up for 16-year-old Udinese forward Simone Pafundi, and for Juventus midfielders Nicolò Fagioli (2001-born) and Fabio Miretti (2003-born). All three had already been selected by Mancini earlier in the year in a special training camp dedicated to identify young and upcoming talent in the country. Back after a year since his last call-up is Federico Chiesa, who has just returned to fitness after his left-knee cruciate ligament injury sustained last January.

🇮🇹 👉 Italy Squad

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint Germain), Alex Meret (Napoli), Ivan Provedel (Lazio), Guglielmo Vicario (Empoli);

Defenders: Francesco Acerbi (Inter), Alessandro Bastoni (Inter), Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Federico Dimarco (Inter), Emerson Palmieri (West Ham), Federico Gatti (Juventus), Pasquale Mazzocchi (Salernitana), Giorgio Scalvini (Atalanta), Rafael Toloi (Atalanta);

Midfielders: Nicolò Barella (Inter), Bryan Cristante (Roma), Nicolò Fagioli (Juventus), Davide Frattesi (Sassuolo), Fabio Miretti (Juventus), Matteo Pessina (Monza), Samuele Ricci (Torino), Sandro Tonali (Milan), Marco Verratti (Paris Saint Germain);

Forwards: Federico Chiesa (Juventus), Wilfried Gnonto (Leeds), Vincenzo Grifo (Freiburg), Simone Pafundi (Udinese), Matteo Politano (Napoli), Giacomo Raspadori (Napoli), Gianluca Scamacca (West Ham), Nicolò Zaniolo (Roma).

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Head Coach Roberto #Mancini has named a 31-player squad for the upcoming friendlies with #Albania and #Austria 📋 🇮🇹 #Azzurri #VivoAzzurro pic.twitter.com/NYPIqaUEEU

— Italy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@Azzurri_En) November 11, 2022

Italy will be preparing for the UEFA EURO 2024 qualification will get underway, and in June the Azzurri will compete in the Nations League Final Four along with Croatia, Spain and the hosts, the Netherlands (semi-final draw to take place in January).

🇮🇹 👉 Backgroud for the games against Albania and Austria

ALBANIA VS. ITALY. Italy and Albania have previously met on only three occasions, all of them in recent times. The first game was back in 2014 in a friendly in Genova that the Azzurri won 1-0, before two clashes in the 2018 World Cup qualification stage, with Italy winning both games in Palermo and Scutari (it was the 800th game for Italy at all levels). In the dugout for Albania will be Edy Reja, the fourth Italian in the Albanian hot-seat in four meetings (two times with De Biasi, one Panucci). In total, there have been 17 games between Italy and an Italian Head Coach on the opposing side (Trappatoni four times, the only one to beat us, and Ghedin), with 14 wins for the Azzurri, two draws and a defeat. In Italy’s first-ever visit to Albania in 2017, they won 1-0 in Scutari, as the Air Albania Stadium was being re-constructed at the time; it will be the first time they will have played in Tirana.

AUSTRIA VS. ITALY. Italy and Austria have faced each other 38 times: Italy have won 18 times, drawn eight and lost twelve, but with less goals scored (51 to 57). Italy was only able to get their first win against Austria back in 1931, after previously drawing four and losing six of the opening ten games between the sides. From 1962 onwards, things got rather better for the Azzurri as they conjured up eleven wins and three draws, remaining unbeaten to this day, 62 years in total. The last defeat came in December 1960 in a 2-1 loss in Naples. The last meeting between the two was in the round of 16 at Euro 2020, at Wembley, won 2-1 in extra-time (in that game, Austria finally broke their duck after not scoring against Italy for 1,168 minutes). This time around, it will be the Azzurri’s 15th outing in Vienna: the previous 14 were all against Austria bar one, that was against Spain at Euro 2008; their record is five wins, three draws and six losses (12/18 goals for/against). The Azzurri haven’t conceded in Vienna in their last three games (the last goal was in 1970), and are unbeaten in seven (last loss was in 1958).