Today at the Ernst Happel Stadion in Vienna the friendly match between Austria and Italy - two of the big players excluded from the World Cup in Qatar - takes place after the one played and won by the Azzurri against Albania.

Two important occasions to better prepare for a 2023 that promises to be full of commitments for the Italian team: in March the start of the UEFA EURO 2024 qualifiers, scheduled in Germany, and in June the appointment with the Nations League Final Four which will see the Azzurri staged in the Netherlands and opposed to Croatia, Spain and the hosts (semi-final draw in January).

Here are the words of Roberto Mancini, coach of the Italian national team, from the press room of the Ernst-Happel-Stadion in Vienna, on the eve of the friendly: "

The match is a good test, especially for the younger players. Let's see if things done in Tirana can improve, this will be a more difficult test and will make us understand if what we did against Albania can be repeated. The one against Austria was one of the most difficult matches at the European Championship

".

And he adds: “

Changing the game system?

We'll evaluate this tomorrow."

Failure to participate in the World Cup has weighed on the climate of these days.

Roberto Mancini was the first to fail to hide his disappointment: “

Do you want revenge?

They immediately proved it.

It's true that we lost against Argentina, but then we saw the desire to start up again right away, especially in the boys.

We proved it in the Nations League by winning a difficult group.

I immediately found that desire, then unfortunately the suffering is there and will be from tomorrow until mid-December.

Next time we'll have to be more specific

."

Now we need to look to the future and leave everything behind.

However, the coach aims to close the year well and against Austria he will try to win the fourth success in a row after those obtained in September against England and Hungary (decisive for accessing the final phase of the Nations League) and two days ago in Tirana in friendly against Albania.

After the exercises in Coverciano, the Azzurri concentrated on technical-tactical work, with the study of dead ball situations and verification of the 3-4-3 and 4-3-3 formations.

In particular, on the offensive front, all the forwards took turns following Mancini's schemes.

The group of players available has dropped to 25 after the defections of Sandro Tonali and Pasquale Mazzocchi and today of Nicolò Fagioli who retired due to a problem with his right foot.

Live at 20.45 on Rai Uno and streaming on Rainews.it and Raiplay.