Italy's complete transformation: Spalletti replaces eight regular players after elimination from the European Championship

Luciano Spalletti is expected to reshuffle Italy's lineup for the match against France, replacing eight regular players from the EURO 2024 defeat to Switzerland.

Italy returns to the pitch two months after a humiliating EURO 2024 round of 16 exit and visits the Parc des Princes in France tonight.

The Azzurri CT has admitted its mistakes and stated at a press conference before Friday's match that the game against Les Blues was the beginning of a new era for the Azzurri.

The Italian squad for the Nations League matches against France and Israel in September is missing eight players who are involved in EURO 2024.

Among them are injured players Gianluca Scamacca and Nicolò Barella, as well as new Liverpool player Federico Chiesa, who trained separately at Juventus throughout the summer while waiting for a transfer.

There will be even more changes tonight, as Spalletti will permanently switch to a three-man defence and replace eight regular players who played in the defeat against Switzerland. Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Gigio Donnarumma and Alessandro Bastoni are expected to start again while the rest of the team changes.

Italy's complete transformation: Spalletti replaces eight regular players after elimination from the European Championship

Riccardo Calafiori served a suspension for the European Championship against Switzerland and will probably start tonight with Bastoni and Di Lorenzo in central defence.

After returning from a betting suspension, Sandro Tonali will play his first international match since September 2023 alongside Samuele Ricci and Davide Frattesi. Ricci and Tonali were not part of the Italian squad for EURO 2024, although the Turin midfielder was included in the provisional squad last summer.

Italy’s starting eleven against Switzerland (4-4-2): Donnarumma; Di Lorenzo, Mancini, Bastoni, Darmian; Cristante, Fagioli, Barella; Chiesa, Scamacca, El Shaarawy.

Italy’s expected starting eleven against France (3-5-2): Donnarumma; Di Lorenzo, Bastoni, Calafiori; Bellanova, Frattesi, Ricci, Tonali, Dimarco; Retegui, Raspadori