MILAN, June 3 — Atalanta defender Giorgio Scalvini is out of Italy’s European Championship title defence with a knee ligament tear, the country’s football federation confirmed on Monday.
Scalvini will sit out the Euros after being injured during Atalanta’s defeat on Sunday to Fiorentina, the final match of the Serie A season which had been postponed in March.
“The tests he underwent last night showed a tear to the anterior cruciate ligament of his left knee,” said the FIGC in a statement.
Scalvini, who is the second Italy defender to miss Euro 2024 in Germany after Francesco Acerbi had to drop out with a groin injury, will be replaced by Juventus’ Federico Gatti.
Having to miss the Euros is a tough end for what has been a impressive season for 20-year-old Scalvini, who won the Europa League with Atalanta.
Sunday’s 3-2 defeat to Fiorentina was of little relevance to Atalanta who had already qualified for next season’s Champions League.
It had been postponed to beyond the scheduled end of the league season when Fiorentina’s general manager Giuseppe “Joe” Barone fell ill, and later died.
The rescheduling of the match had caused a headache for Serie A as Atalanta and Fiorentina reached European finals and had deep runs in the Italian Cup, leaving little room in the calendar for their extra league fixture.
Italy begin their European title defence on June 15 against Albania in Group B, where they have also been drawn with Spain and Croatia.
Luciano Spalletti’s side play the first of two pre-Euros friendlies on Tuesday, against Turkey, before facing Bosnia and Herzegovina at the weekend.
Updated provisional Italy squad:
Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint-Germain/FRA), Alex Meret (Napoli), Ivan Provedel (Lazio), Guglielmo Vicario (Tottenham Hotspur/ENG)
Defenders: Alessandro Bastoni (Inter Milan), Raoul Bellanova (Torino), Alessandro Buongiorno (Torino), Riccardo Calafiori (Bologna), Andrea Cambiaso (Juventus), Matteo Darmian (Inter Milan), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Federico Dimarco (Inter Milan), Federico Gatti (Juventus), Gianluca Mancini (Roma)
Midfielders: Nicolo Barella (Inter Milan), Bryan Cristante (Roma), Nicolo Fagioli (Juventus), Michael Folorunsho (Verona), Davide Frattesi (Inter Milan), Jorginho (Arsenal/ENG), Lorenzo Pellegrini (Roma), Samuele Ricci (Torino)
Forwards: Federico Chiesa (Juventus), Stephan El Shaarawy (Roma), Riccardo Orsolini (Bologna), Giacomo Raspadori (Napoli), Mateo Retegui (Genoa), Gianluca Scamacca (Atalanta), Mattia Zaccagni (Lazio) — Reuters
