Official: Cristante drops out of Italy squad as Mancini calls in immediate replacement

Bryan Cristante plays for Italy in the 2026 World Cup qualifier in Moldova (@azzurri)

Roma midfielder Bryan Cristante has withdrawn from the Italy national team squad due to injury and has been replaced by Como’s Samuele Ricci, the FIGC has confirmed.

Mancini announced a squad of 34 players on Friday ahead of an extra-long international break that will see Italy take on Belgium, Turkiye, France and Turkiye again in the Nations League group stage. 

Cristante was one of eight players that were called up by Mancini for his first camp back in charge of the Nazionale, but he has since dropped out with an unspecified physical problem, the FIGC have confirmed in a statement. 

He has been replaced by the 25-year-old Ricci, who has 11 caps to his name and was handed his senior Italy debut by Mancini back in 2022.

“Following yesterday’s league match against Inter, Roma midfielder Bryan Cristante is unavailable due to a physical problem and will not be able to accept the call-up. Meanwhile, Roberto Mancini has called up Como midfielder Samuele Ricci, who will join the group in the next few hours,” read a statement from the FIGC.

The Italy squad will meet up at Coverciano on Sunday evening and will begin training ahead of the Nations League fixtures on Monday. Up first is the match against Belgium on Friday (September 25). 

Updated Italy squad for September-October break 

Goalkeepers: Marco Carnesecchi (Atalanta), Gianluigi Donnarumma (Manchester City), Massimo Pessina (Bologna), Guglielmo Vicario (Juventus);

Defenders: Honest Ahanor (Crystal Palace), Alessandro Bastoni (Inter), Riccardo Calafiori (Arsenal), Diego Coppola (Paris FC), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Federico Dimarco (Inter), Daniele Ghilardi (Roma), Michael Kayode (Brentford), Eddy Kouadio (Monza), Gianluca Mancini (Roma), Giorgio Scalvini (Atalanta);

Midfielders: Nicolò Barella (Inter), Issa Doumbia (Sporting CP), Nicolò Fagioli (Fiorentina), Davide Frattesi (Lazio), Rolando Mandragora (Torino), Samuele Ricci (Como), Alessandro Romano (Cagliari), Sandro Tonali (Tottenham);

Forwards: Nicolò Cambiaghi (Bologna), Francesco Pio Esposito (Inter), Sebastiano Esposito (Sassuolo), Samuele Inacio (Borussia Dortmund), Moise Kean (Como), Daniel Maldini (Cagliari), Giacomo Raspadori (Atalanta), Gianluca Scamacca (Atalanta), Antonio Vergara (Napoli), Nicolò Zaniolo (Udinese), Mohamed Alì Zoma (Nurnberg).