Zambrotta: ‘Italy have interesting 3-5-2 formation’

World Cup winner Gianluca Zambrotta feels that the 3-5-2 formation is most suited to the Italy squad against Germany. ‘Luciano Spalletti accepted the blame for the ugly European Championship.’

The quarter-final kicks off at San Siro at 19.45 GMT.

You can follow all the build-up and action as it happens on the Liveblog.

The second leg will be in Dortmund on Sunday evening and the winner goes through to the Final Four of the Nations League.

“There are some problems on the wings, clearly with the absence of Federico Dimarco, who is having an extraordinary campaign at Inter,” Zambrotta told Vivo Azzurro TV.

“Andrea Cambiaso is also injured on the other side, but there are strong players who can impress tonight and we hope they will.”

Zambrotta in favour of Italy system

Spalletti had been chopping and changing his tactics during his tenure, but decided after the flop of EURO 2024 to stick with a single system.

“I think the 3-5-2 is an interesting system, because it gives you the opportunity to push hard down the wings and also with the midfielders, leaving just one who pulls the strings. It is a system that Spalletti knows well.

“The coach accepted the blame for the ugly European Championship and is getting back on his feet really well.”

The presence of Matteo Politano will make Italy more attacking down the right flank, compared to Destiny Udogie on the left.

Germany reached the quarter-final of EURO 2024, going out to eventual winners Spain, but are missing some key players this evening, including Marc-Andre ter Stegen and suspended Florian Wirtz.

“They still have talents like Jamal Musiala, Leroy Sané and Antonio Rudiger,” concluded Zambrotta.

“Germany never say die, so we need the utmost focus.”

Zambrotta was in the Italy side that beat Germany 2-0 in extra time during the epic 2006 World Cup Final.