"Wembley brings up one of the best moments of my life, possibly the absolute best along with the birth of my son," Gianluigi Donnarumma said. The Italy captain also pointed to the embrace between Roberto Mancini and Gianluca Vialli after the Euro 2020 final as the image he will always remember. That memory sits alongside a very different present: Mancini returned to the Italy job at the end of July after Gennaro Gattuso’s exit, and Italy now begin the Nations League campaign with four League A Group 1 fixtures across the September and October international break.

Mancini’s second spell and the squad churn

Italy host Belgium at the Stadio Olimpico on September 25 before travelling to Bursa to face Türkiye on October 2 and welcoming Türkiye to the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara on October 5. Donnarumma’s club form has been steady enough too, with three Premier League appearances in 2026 and a 7.02 rating, but the bigger story is how much the international group has changed around him.

Only six players from Mancini’s Euro 2020-winning team remain in the 34-man squad. They are Donnarumma, Alessandro Bastoni, Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Nicolò Barella, Bryan Cristante and Giacomo Raspadori. That is a fairly stark turnover for a side trying to find its footing again, and it gives Donnarumma’s Wembley recollection more weight than nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake.

Mancini has also brought in nine new players, including Massimo Pessina and Michael Kayode. Marco Palestra is left out after being sidelined through injury, which only adds to the sense of a squad still being sorted rather than settled.

The names coming back into the group

The churn is not only about debutants. Rolando Mandragora returns after a gap of over five years, with his last Italy appearance coming in March 2021. Nicolò Fagioli and Nicolò Zaniolo had not been included since October 2024.

That gives Mancini a mix of familiar faces and fresh options as he starts his second spell. The point from Donnarumma’s interview is not just that Wembley meant a great deal to the players who lived through it, but that the squad now has to carry that memory into a group that looks a long way from the one that won there. The first test comes against Belgium on 25 September, with the rest of the September and October break following quickly after.

Written by Sam Whitfield with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 3 outlets. How we work →