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As Italy prepares to play a pivotal match against North Macedonia in the European Nations qualifiers (Euro 2024), the Azzurri national team found itself in an unenviable situation, besieged by a series of injuries and the new involvement of one of its players in illegal betting scandals.

Media reports stated that Alessandro Florenzi, the AC Milan and national team player, is under investigation over his involvement in the latest Italian football betting scandal. According to the AGI news agency, the Turin Public Prosecutor’s Office has opened an investigation into allegations about Florenzi (32 years old) being involved in illegal sports betting, and it is expected that the player will be investigated by the Public Prosecution soon.

Italian football was exposed to a strong betting scandal, which included 3 young players in the Italian national team in the middle of last month, with an investigation opened by the Public Prosecution Authority in Turin and the Italian Football Federation regarding allegations of illegal betting involving Sandro Tonali, the Newcastle United player, and Nicolo Zaniolo, the English player. Aston Villa and Nicolo Fagioli (Juventus).

According to Italian media reports, Fagioli and Zaniolo are cooperating with the authorities, but the former, who was suspended for 7 months, denies that he participated in betting on the matches of his team, Juventus. Zaniolo admitted that he bet on certain occasions on poker and blackjack via electronic platforms, but he never bet on football matches, and the two players hope that the punishment against them will be reduced.

While Tonali was subjected to a ten-month suspension, leaving him absent from his team (Newcastle) for the remainder of the season, he was also excluded from his country’s national team’s account, after the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) ratified the decision of the Italian authorities.

The agent of Tonali (23 years old), who joined Newcastle from AC Milan last July for $67 million, said that the player suffers from an addiction to betting and will undergo psychological treatment.

Italy national team coach Luciano Spalletti called up Zaniolo to the squad preparing to face North Macedonia and Ukraine next Friday and Monday, after he received the green light from the Italian Football Federation.

The Italian Federation agreed to summon the Aston Villa player to participate in the two decisive matches against North Macedonia and Ukraine. Spalletti said: “I spoke to the president of the federation, Gabriele Gravina, and he indicated that Zaniolo has not been subjected to any punishment yet.”

Spalletti had allowed Zaniolo to leave the team last month before the qualifying matches against Malta and England, along with his teammate Tonali, to attend the investigation conducted by the public prosecutor in Turin.

In addition, Spalletti’s suffering continued with successive injuries to his players, the most recent of whom was Inter Milan defender Alessandro Bastoni, who withdrew from the squad after suffering a muscle strain in his right calf during training, so Roma player Gianluca Mancini was called up in his place. The Azzurri coach had previously lost two other defenders in his initial squad of 29 players, namely Milan captain Davide Calabria and Atalanta player Rafael Tolui.

Spalletti also lost the efforts of Juventus midfielder Manuel Locatelli and attacking duo Mattia Zaccagni (Lazio) and Matteo Retegui (Genoa) due to injury, and Atalanta goalkeeper Marco Carnezecchi was also called up for the first time due to the illness of Tottenham’s English goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario.

The Italian team, the defending champion, occupies third place in its group (third), while the leading English team has clinched its qualification.

The Italians need to score at least 4 points during the matches between North Macedonia in Rome and Ukraine in Leverkusen on Monday, to grab second place and secure their direct qualification to the finals.

Similar to what happened in the Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifiers, Italy’s fate is linked to North Macedonia, which played a role in preventing it from trying to reach the World Cup, after eliminating it from the European play-off semi-finals by defeating it in its home country 1-0 with a goal in the fatal hour.

North Macedonia returns to Italy for the first time since the painful historic loss of the four-time world champions, when it visits the Olympic Stadium in Rome on Friday in the seventh and penultimate round.

Italy was not very successful in its first confrontation with North Macedonia since the shock of failing to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar, as it settled for a 1-1 draw on September 9, the fifth round, in its first match in the qualifiers under Spalletti, who succeeded Roberto Mancini, the architect of the coronation. The continental tournament for his country in the summer of 2021.

Italy then beat Ukraine 2-1, then Malta 4-0, before falling for the second time to England, which avenged the first leg for losing the 2021 summer final by winning 2-1 away from home, before repeating the victory in the return leg at Wembley with a score of 3-1. Which allowed her to reserve her ticket to the finals.

The mission became clear for Spalletti’s men in the last two rounds of the qualifiers. They must win against North Macedonia and then at least draw with Ukraine on Monday in order to catch up with England.

England, which won the top spot in the group, will also play a marginal match against Malta on Friday, in a match that may be an opportunity for coach Gareth Southgate to test some of the new faces who have shined in the English Premier League. Both Jude Bellingham, the Real Madrid midfielder, and Levi Chilwell, the Chelsea player, were removed from the England squad due to injury. The England national team said in a statement: “Jude Bellingham and Levi Chilwell will not participate in the Euro 2024 qualifiers against Malta and North Macedonia, and will return to their clubs to continue the rehabilitation process.” Bellingham and Chilwell were removed from the squad after James Maddison, Callum Wilson and Lewis Dunk also withdrew due to injury. To compensate for the absence of the trio, the coach called up Ezri Konsa, Cole Palmer and Rico Lewis for the first time to the English list.

Like Italy, the Netherlands hopes to catch up with big teams, such as France, Spain, England, Portugal and Belgium, in addition to the host Germany, by clinching the second ticket to the second group after the first went to Kylian Mbappé and his teammates in the “Roosters” team.

The Netherlands occupies second place in the group with 12 points, with a difference in the two direct matches from Greece, and therefore it will need to win on Saturday in Amsterdam over fourth-place Ireland (6 points), in order to guarantee its place.

If matters are not resolved against Ireland, coach Ronald Koeman’s team will get another opportunity on Tuesday against the humble Gibraltar team, which is playing a “difficult” match against the French team on Friday in Nice.

What weighs in favor of the Netherlands is that its pursuer, Greece, has played a match more than it, and will miss this round, concluding its campaign on Tuesday at home against France, noting that the 2004 champions have another chance to reach the finals through the Nations League special supplement, which was allocated 3 qualifying cards for Germany 2024. Koeman called up goalkeeper Bart Verbrugen, the English player from Brighton, to be a starter for the Netherlands team against Ireland, to resolve the ongoing controversy after relying on 5 goalkeepers in the last 12 months.

Koeman preferred Verbruchen, who joined Brighton from Anderlecht at the beginning of the season, over Feyenoord goalkeeper Justin Bellew and Brentford English goalkeeper Mark Flecken.

Verbruchen played his first international match; In the 2-1 loss at home to France, he also participated in the 1-0 win over Greece in the 2024 European Championship qualifiers last month.

“He has developed well at such a young age,” Koeman said of the 21-year-old Verbrugen. The same applies to Bello, but unfortunately he was injured, which made the situation different. It is not certain that Bart will be 100 per cent first choice during the European Championship. We cannot and should not say that. But in principle, yes, he will be the first choice for the next two matches.”

When Koeman announced his squad for the next two matches, a surprising choice appeared: 17-year-old defender Jurel Hato, about whom he said: “I was looking for defenders who play with the left foot. We had other options but they were on the right foot. “It went well with his recall, because Nathan Ake was ruled out due to injury.”