FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Serie A - Juventus v Atalanta - Allianz Stadium, Turin, Italy - March 9, 2025 Atalanta's Mateo Retegui scores their first goal from the penalty spot REUTERS/Massimo Pinca/File Photo
(Reuters) - Italy will be without striker Mateo Retegui for both legs of their Nations League quarter-final tie with Germany, but Luciano Spalletti will wait before deciding to call up a replacement, the manager said on Wednesday.
Spalletti's side host Germany at the San Siro in Thursday's first leg, and this season's top scorer in Serie A, Retegui, was a late withdrawal on Wednesday with a thigh muscle strain.
Attacking midfielder Mattia Zaccagni and defender Andrea Cambiaso are also at risk of missing the first leg.
"We sent Retegui home because he wouldn't have made it, but hopefully he will recover with Atalanta for the league," Spalletti told reporters.
"He does not have a well-defined problem, but fatigue. For the moment I'm not calling anyone because I want to see how the first challenge goes.
"It could happen that we need a first or second striker based on the recoveries of Zaccagni and Cambiaso. If I have to call a first striker I will call (Roberto) Piccoli, otherwise (Tommaso) Baldanzi.
Piccoli is on loan at Cagliari from Atalanta and has netted seven league goals this season while Baldanzi has impressed with AS Roma. Neither player has made an appearance for Italy's senior team.
If Spalletti appeared unconcerned with his own injury problems, the manager also played down the fact that Germany are missing the likes of Florian Wirtz and Kai Havertz.
"A national team like Germany has no absentees," Spalletti said.
"Who are they? If one winger doesn't play, he has four or five others of the highest level.
"They aren't missing anyone just as we aren't missing anyone. It will be a team full of great quality who will propose their game, beyond the absence of a couple of elements who have played more often."
Spalletti was always likely to choose Moise Kean to lead the line, even if Retegui had been available, saying the Fiorentina striker was more suited to the back and forth type of game he expects against Germany.
"Retegui is better in the penalty area from what I saw," Spalletti said.
"Kean starts from further out, sometimes from midfield and doesn't need anyone, he comes up against a couple of defenders and still manages to finish on goal."
Italy travel to Dortmund for the second leg on Sunday, and the winners will host the Nations League semi-finals and finals in June.
(Reporting by Trevor Stynes, editing by Ed Osmond)
