When Italy beat England in the final of the European Championship at Wembley in July 2021, the future looked bright.
No one imagined the Azzurri would be watching the 2022 Qatar World Cup on TV after failing to qualify, that Robert Mancini would walk away this August, and that new coach Luciano Spalletti’s second squad would be rocked by police arriving at their Coverciano training base to investigate a betting scandal.
Italy are back in London on Tuesday for the first time since the Euros. The charismatic but disciplinarian Spalletti has talked a good game this week but the problems were mounting even before police arrived to question Sandro Tonali and Nicolo Zaniolo over illegal betting.