Riccardo Calafiori says Italy cannot look past France even with Sunday’s Belgium trip looming. Speaking to football-italia.net, the Italy defender said, “We’ll play our best tomorrow and then can think about the Belgium game.” The immediate task is Italy vs France at San Siro on Thursday at 20.45 CET in matchday 5 of the Nations League.
Italy's group position
The standings make the match hard to ignore. France lead Group A on 10 points, Italy are second on 7 and Belgium are third on 6. A win would take Italy level with France at the top, while the top two go into the Nations League quarter-finals.
Calafiori also pointed to the limits of international preparation. “There isn’t much time to prepare tactically and do things that are too different to at club level, so it’s more about determination and heart,” he said. That fits the way he has spoken about the camp, with the France game treated as the only thing that matters until the final whistle.
Calafiori's role in the camp
The Riccardo Calafiori message is coming from a player who has already been used regularly in this Nations League campaign. He has 3 appearances and 214 minutes in the competition this season, and his club workload at Arsenal also stands at 10 Premier League appearances and 780 minutes.
He also said, “I have relatively little experience with the Nazionale, but in every match I try to inspire my team and be a leader, more through my actions on the field than any words I might use.” That is a fair description of the way he has framed his own role. He is not trying to overcomplicate the week, just keep Italy fixed on France before Brussels.
Written by Sam Whitfield with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 2 outlets. How we work →
