Roberto Mancini has left out four players from Italy’s matchday squad for Sunday’s decisive Nations League meeting with Belgium, while Alphadjo Cisse and Mattia Liberali have been included.
Italy face Belgium in Brussels at 19:45 GMT, in their final fixture of the Nations League group stage. The Azzurri go into the match top of the table after beating France 3-1 at San Siro on Thursday.
Italy have 10 points, with France level on points behind them on goal difference and head-to-head record. Belgium are third on nine points, while Turkey are bottom without a point.
Belgium won the first meeting between the sides, defeating Italy in Rome during the opening round of group-stage fixtures at the start of the September-October international break.
For Nations League group-stage matches, teams must name a matchday squad of 23 players, including three goalkeepers.
Mancini confirmed on Saturday that Davide Frattesi and Nicolo Cambiaghi would miss the game after failing to recover from their respective issues. Both players started against France but have not been selected for the match in Brussels.
Sebastiano Esposito will also be absent, while Samuele Ricci, Federico Gatti and Matteo Palma have been omitted from the squad. Gatti and Palma were not included for the victory over France either.
Cisse, Liberali, Honest Ahanor and Niccolo Pisilli have been added to the group after missing out against France earlier in the week.
Italy’s squad for Belgium is:
Goalkeepers: Marco Carnesecchi, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Guglielmo Vicario.
Defenders: Honest Ahanor, Alessandro Bastoni, Riccardo Calafiori, Federico Dimarco, Daniele Ghilardi, Michael Kayode, Marco Palestra, Giorgio Scalvini.
Midfielders: Nicolo Barella, Alphadjo Cisse, Issa Doumbia, Nicolo Fagioli, Mattia Liberali, Niccolo Pisilli, Alessandro Romano, Sandro Tonali.
Forwards: Pio Esposito, Luca Koleosho, Gianluca Scamacca, Antonio Vergara.
