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After a week of hard training sessions and evaluations of many players' physical condition, Antonio Conte has finally decided the 23 men that will participate to the European Championship starting in a couple of weeks. Without further ado, and before we get to the speculation, here is the complete list of Italy's roster for Euro 2016.
Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Federico Marchetti (Lazio), Salvatore Sirigu (PSG).
Defenders: Leonardo Bonucci, Andrea Barzagli, Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Angelo Ogbonna (West Ham), Matteo Darmian (Manchester United), Mattia De Sciglio (AC Milan).
Midfielders: Federico Bernardeschi (Fiorentina), Antonio Candreva, Marco Parolo (Lazio), Daniele De Rossi, Stephan El Shaarawy, Alessandro Florenzi (AS Roma), Thiago Motta (PSG), Stefano Sturaro (Juventus), Emanuele Giaccherini (Bologna).
Forwards: Eder (Inter Milan), Ciro Immobile (Torino), Graziano Pellè (Southampton), Lorenzo Insigne (Napoli), Simone Zaza (Juventus).
Reserves: Davide Zappacosta (Torino), Daniele Rugani (Juventus), Marco Benassi (Torino).
Ideal starting lineup according to Conte's plans (3-5-2): Buffon; Barzagli, Bonucci, Chiellini; Candreva, Thiago Motta, De Rossi, Giaccherini, Darmian; Eder, Pellè.
The fact that Riccardo Montolivo doesn't appear in this list is due to his last calf injury that would have limited him so it's not really surprising that Conte didn't call him. However, Italy's manager surprisingly decided to leave two of the best midfielders in the Serie A, Jorginho and Giacomo Bonaventura, out of the team and preferred to take Stefano Sturaro, who didn't play much this season, and Thiago Motta, despite his injury. These two inexplicable choices have to been added to the previous ones, when Conte decided not to select players like Sebastian Giovinco, Andrea Belotti and Leonardo Pavoletti for the 30-men list despite their great seasons.
However, they'll still try to do their best to reach the final and win a European Championship after almost 50 years of losses -- their last and only Euro championship was all the way back in 1968.