Euro 2024: Italy hit with major blow as Atalanta’s Europa League hero Giorgio Scalvini suffers serious knee ligament tear
- Scalvini is second defender after Francesco Acerbi to be ruled out of summer tournament
- He suffered injury in final match of campaign against Fiorentina, a game that had been rearranged
Atalanta defender Giorgio Scalvini is out of Italy’s European Championship title defence with a knee-ligament tear, the country’s football federation confirmed on Monday.
Scalvini will sit out the Euros after being injured during Atalanta’s defeat on Sunday to Fiorentina, the final match of the Serie A season that had been postponed in March.
“The tests he underwent last night showed a tear to the anterior cruciate ligament of his left knee,” said the FIGC in a statement.
Scalvini, who is the second Italy defender to miss Euro 2024 in Germany after Francesco Acerbi had to drop out with a groin injury, will be replaced by Juventus’ Federico Gatti.
Having to miss the Euros is a tough end for what has been an impressive season for 20-year-old Scalvini, who won the Europa League with Atalanta.
Sunday’s 3-2 defeat to Fiorentina was of little relevance to Atalanta, which had already qualified for next season’s Champions League.
It had been postponed to beyond the scheduled end of the league season when Fiorentina’s general manager Giuseppe “Joe” Barone fell ill, and later died.
