Italy without Calafiori, Buongiorno warming up for Dortmund

(ANSA) - ROME, MAR 21 - Italy will be without injured Arsenal defender Riccardo Calafiori as it tries to overturn a 2-1 Nations League quarter-final deficit against Germany in Dortmund Sunday but Napoli centre back Alessandro Buongiorno is warming up to step in, coach Luciano Spalletti said a day after the San Siro defeat Friday.
    Former Bologna centre back Calafiori, 22, is unable to make it, after the slide with a strange twisting of his left knee at the end of the match at San Siro against the Germans, and has withdrawn.
    "Subjected in the late morning to instrumental tests for the sprain-contusion trauma to his left knee - the FIGC said - he was deemed unavailable for the return leg scheduled for Sunday and will return to his club for assessments".
    The injury is not expected to be serious but in London Calafiori will rely on the Arsenal medical staff, but initial hypotheses suggest it would be a lesion of the left collateral between the first and second degree and he should be out for a few weeks.
    The next few days will clarify the precise recovery times but given the bad movement on the pitch, the worst seems to have been averted. Of course, Spalletti won't be able to rely on him in Dortmund.
    The coach will probably replace him with Buongiorno, lined up in defense with clubmate Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Inter centre back Alessandro Bastoni.
    The defensive line will have to pay more attention to set pieces, the real Achilles heel of Spalletti's Azzurri.
    There are other players to evaluate.
    Matteo Politano expressed some difficulty with his physical condition yesterday.
    Andrea Cambiaso, as Spalletti explained, has made significant progress.
    "We had targeted the second match, we think the next two days will be crucial. And if he continues with the progress he will have the chance to play". These are the last hours of evaluation for Spalletti who will then have to decide on the most reliable eleven to overturn the defeat suffered yesterday in the first leg in a stadium that is a fortress for Germany. (ANSA).