{"id":7708,"date":"2026-06-03T04:46:42","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T04:46:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/lu\/7708\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T04:46:42","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T04:46:42","slug":"italy-probable-xi-in-luxembourg-palestra-not-fully-fit-pisilli-starts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/lu\/7708\/","title":{"rendered":"Italy probable XI in Luxembourg: Palestra not fully fit, Pisilli starts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marco Palestra<\/a> has a muscular problem, but Francesco Pio Esposito<\/a>, Davide Bartesaghi<\/a>, Niccol\u00f2 Pisilli<\/a> and Luca Koleosho<\/a> are expected to start for Italy against Luxembourg.<\/p>\n

It kicks off at the Stade de Luxembourg on Wednesday at 19.45 UK time (20.45 CEST).<\/p>\n

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This is the first of two friendly matches under interim coach Silvio Baldini, along with Sunday\u2019s trip to Greece.<\/p>\n

Promoted from the Under-21 bench for these two games, he has called up largely uncapped players who are eager to prove themselves, along with veteran captain Gianluigi Donnarumma<\/a>.<\/p>\n

New Italy on show in Luxembourg\"\"<\/p>\n

ZENICA, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA \u2013 MARCH 31: Tarik Muharemovic<\/a> of Bosnia & Herzegovina competes for the ball with Marco Palestra of Italy during the FIFA World Cup 2026 European Qualifiers KO play-offs match between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Italy at Stadion Bilino Polje on March 31, 2026 in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. (Photo by Getty Images\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

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Palestra had been set to start after sparking a bidding war worth \u20ac50m on the transfer market, but Sky Sport Italia report he sustained a slight adductor issue in training and will not be risked.<\/a><\/p>\n

Instead, Costantino Favasuli of Catanzaro is expected to step in at right-back, as he can play on either flank.<\/p>\n

Milan<\/a> left-back Bartesaghi is chosen for the left side of defence, around Fiorentina<\/a>\u2019s Pietro Comuzzo<\/a> and Borussia Monchengladbach<\/a>\u2019s 20-year-old Fabio Chiarodia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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CREMONA, \u2013 MARCH 01: Davide Bartesaghi of AC Milan<\/a> in action during the Serie A match between US Cremonese<\/a> and AC Milan at Stadio Giovanni Zini on March 01, 2026 in Cremona (Photo by Francesco Scaccianoce\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

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It is largely the current Under-21 side<\/a>, including Fiorentina midfielder Cher Ndour<\/a>, Luca Lipani<\/a> of Sassuolo<\/a> and Roma\u2019s Pisilli.<\/p>\n

The trident attack in a 4-3-3 formation should be Roma-owned Luigi Cherubini<\/a>, Inter<\/a> striker Pio Esposito, and Paris<\/a> FC\u2019s Koleosho.<\/p>\n

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EMPOLI \u2013 MARCH 26: Cher Ndour U21 celebrates after scoring a goal during the UEFA Under 21 EURO Qualifier match between Italy U21 and North Macedonia U21 at Stadio Carlo Castellani on March 26, 2026 in Empoli. (Photo by Gabriele Maltinti\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Italy (probable 4-3-3): Donnarumma; Favasuli, Chiarodia, Comuzzo, Bartesaghi; Ndour, Lipani, Pisilli<\/a>; Cherubini, Pio Esposito, Koleosho<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Marco Palestra has a muscular problem, but Francesco Pio Esposito, Davide Bartesaghi, Niccol\u00f2 Pisilli and Luca Koleosho are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7709,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[2121,2099,2119,2084,2094,2096,2086,2083,2085,2109,408,2107,2100,2101,5,2098,1217,2118,2117,1218,2097,2123,2113,2120,2122,2124],"class_list":["post-7708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-luxembourg","tag-ac-milan","tag-borussia-monchengladbach","tag-bosnia-and-herzegovina","tag-cher-ndour","tag-davide-bartesaghi","tag-fabio-chiarodia","tag-fiorentina","tag-francesco-pio-esposito","tag-gianluigi-donnarumma","tag-inter","tag-italy","tag-luca-koleosho","tag-luca-lipani","tag-luigi-cherubini","tag-luxembourg","tag-marco-palestra","tag-milan","tag-niccolo-pisilli","tag-palestra","tag-paris","tag-pietro-comuzzo","tag-pisilli","tag-sassuolo","tag-stade-de-luxembourg","tag-tarik-muharemovic","tag-us-cremonese"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@lu\/116684363355998076","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/lu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/lu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/lu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/lu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/lu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/lu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7708\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/lu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/lu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/lu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/lu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}