FLORENCE, Italy — Atalanta defender Rafael Toloi and Spezia midfielder Matteo Ricci were called up by Italy for the first time on Friday in a 38-man squad for World Cup qualifiers.
Ricci will have to wait for the green light from Spezia’s local health authority to go to the national team’s headquarters at Coverciano, on the outskirts of Florence, as will Inter Milan players Alessandro Bastoni, Nicolò Barella and Stefano Sensi.
Inter’s Serie A match against Sassuolo on Saturday was postponed because of coronavirus cases in the squad. Its players were also banned from traveling for international duty.
The Italy squad will meet up at Coverciano on Sunday.
The Azzurri kick off their World Cup qualifying campaign at home to Northern Ireland in Parma on Thursday. They play Bulgaria away on March 28, and Lithuania, also away, three days later.
Italy:
Goalkeepers: Alessio Cragno (Cagliari), Gianluigi Donnarumma (AC Milan), Alex Meret (Napoli), Salvatore Sirigu (Torino).
Defenders: Francesco Acerbi (Lazio), Alessandro Bastoni (Inter Milan), Cristiano Biraghi (Fiorentina), Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Emerson (Chelsea), Gian Marco Ferrari (Sassuolo), Alessandro Florenzi (Paris Saint-Germain), Manuel Lazzari (Lazio), Gianluca Mancini (Roma), Leonardo Spinazzola (Roma), Rafael Toloi (Atalanta).
Midfielders: Nicolò Barella (Inter Milan), Gaetano Castrovilli (Fiorentina), Bryan Cristante (Roma), Manuel Locatelli (Sassuolo), Rolando Mandragora (Torino), Lorenzo Pellegrini (Roma), Matteo Pessina (Atalanta), Matteo Ricci (Spezia), Stefano Sensi (Inter Milan), Roberto Soriano (Bologna), Marco Verratti (Paris Saint-Germain).
Forwards: Andrea Belotti (Torino), Domenico Berardi (Sassuolo), Federico Bernardeschi (Juventus), Francesco Caputo (Sassuolo), Federico Chiesa (Fiorentina), Stephan El Shaarawy (Roma), Vincenzo Grifo (Freiburg), Ciro Immobile (Lazio),Lorenzo Insigne (Napoli), Moise Kean (Everton).
More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
