Italy Faces Difficult Spell as Oriali Criticizes Juventus Ultras
Italy’s players reported to Coverciano with a familiar face back in the fold and a warning ringing in their ears.
Gabriele Oriali has returned alongside Roberto Mancini to help steer the Azzurri into a new Nations League campaign, but the veteran team manager made it clear this is no triumphant homecoming. It is damage control.
Oriali’s warning at Coverciano
Italy open their Nations League run against Belgium on Friday, then travel to Turkiye on September 28 and France on October 2. Vincenzo Montella’s Turkiye then visit Italy on October 5, before the group closes with France on November 12 and Belgium on November 15.
It is a demanding run. Oriali did not try to dress it up.
“It is certainly not the best moment for Italian football, we know that we are heading into a difficult spell,” he told Rai 2, setting the tone for this latest reboot under Mancini.
The message to the squad was blunt. No shortcuts. No illusions.
“The lads need to recognise that too. The important thing is for everyone to understand the moment, share it, have collective responsibility, respect and a little discipline, all of which never hurts.
“It is by finding that team spirit, that group togetherness, that we can then achieve results.”
The words felt like a throwback to the old Coverciano code: humility, sacrifice, the group above the individual. And they arrive at a time when the wider Italian game seems to be pulling itself apart.
‘Shameful’ gesture towards Mazzola
While Oriali preached unity, the weekend had offered a jarring counter-image: Juventus ultras turning their backs on the pitch during a minute’s silence for Sandro Mazzola.
The tribute, shown on LED screens before AC Milan’s Serie A match with Lecce at San Siro on September 20, 2026, honoured one of Italian football’s great icons – a legend of Inter and the national team, and later a respected director.
For Oriali, who grew up under Mazzola’s wing at Inter, the snub cut deep.
“I remember the first training sessions at the Pinetina, Mazzola was one of those who welcomed me with open arms,” he recalled. “He gave me a lift home one day after training, people couldn’t believe it when they saw him.”
The memories came quickly: the human touch, the status, the influence.
“I have only fond memories of him as a teammate and a person, without forgetting he was also a great director who brought Ronaldo to Serie A.”
Then the tone hardened.
“The ultras turning their backs was an ugly image. I hope that these people can be identified and left out of the stadium, it’s shameful. There are champions who go beyond the jerseys they wear, and this was just a deplorable gesture.”
In a few sentences, Oriali joined a wider chorus condemning the act, but his words carried the weight of someone who had shared a dressing room and a life with Mazzola.
A fractured backdrop to Italy’s reset
As Mancini and Oriali attempt to rebuild an Italy side under pressure, they do so against a backdrop that looks anything but united. The national team is calling for responsibility, respect and shared sacrifice at the very moment when one of the country’s greatest footballing figures has been disrespected in public view.
For Oriali, the link is obvious: if Italian football cannot agree on how to honour its own legends, how can it expect to rediscover the collective strength that once defined the Azzurri?
The answer will not come in a soundbite. It will come in the next few months, on the pitch against Belgium, Turkiye and France – and in the stands, where Italy must decide what kind of game, and what kind of game culture, it wants to defend.
