Oriali Warns of Difficult Spell for Italy's Football
Italy are back together at Coverciano, the Nations League on the horizon, the familiar figure of Roberto Mancini restored to the bench – and yet the mood is anything but celebratory.
Team manager Gabriele Oriali, also back alongside Mancini, did not bother dressing it up.
“It is certainly not the best moment for Italian football, we know that we are heading into a difficult spell,” he told Rai 2, setting the tone for a camp that feels more like a reset than a reunion.
Nations League gauntlet
The Azzurri begin their campaign against Belgium on Friday, a fixture that rarely comes without tension. Then it’s a demanding run: a trip to Turkiye on September 28, followed by a visit to France on October 2.
Vincenzo Montella’s Turkish side then come to Italy on October 5, before the group closes with two more heavyweight clashes – France on November 12 and Belgium again on November 15.
No soft landings. No time for nostalgia.
Oriali knows it.
“The lads need to recognise that too,” he said. “The important thing is for everyone to understand the moment, share it, have collective responsibility, respect and a little discipline, all of which never hurts.
“It is by finding that team spirit, that group togetherness, that we can then achieve results.”
Mancini’s return offers continuity, Oriali’s presence adds authority. But the message from Coverciano is clear: reputation alone won’t carry Italy through this stretch.
A game that forgot its respect
While Oriali spoke about unity, Italian football served up an image of the exact opposite.
During a minute’s silence to honour Sandro Mazzola – an icon of Inter and the Nazionale – a section of Juventus ultras turned their backs on the pitch. In a week meant to be about rebuilding, the gesture cut across everything Oriali was preaching.
For him, it was personal.
“I remember the first training sessions at the Pinetina, Mazzola was one of those who welcomed me with open arms,” the former Inter midfielder recalled.
“He gave me a lift home one day after training, people couldn’t believe it when they saw him. I have only fond memories of him as a teammate and a person, without forgetting he was also a great director who brought Ronaldo to Serie A.”
Then his tone hardened.
“The ultras turning their backs was an ugly image. I hope that these people can be identified and left out of the stadium, it’s shameful. There are champions who go beyond the jerseys they wear, and this was just a deplorable gesture.”
At San Siro, a LED screen had recently lit up with a tribute to Mazzola before Milan’s match against Lecce, a reminder of the respect he commands across generations. The contrast with the behaviour of those Juventus fans could not have been starker.
Unity or fracture?
As Italy gather under Mancini once more, Oriali’s words hang over this international window. On the pitch, he demands discipline, responsibility and togetherness to survive a brutal Nations League schedule.
Off it, he is calling out a culture that, at its worst, cannot even share a minute’s silence for one of its greatest.
The fixtures are fixed. The opponents are known. The real question for Italy now is simpler, and far more complicated: can a fractured football culture still produce a united national team?
