Italy coach Luciano Spalletti was in combative mood ahead of Thursday's Euro 2024 Group B game with Spain, telling Spanish journalists not to be over-confident and rejecting claims the big clash was a Latin "derby."
The holders limped to a 2-1 win over Albania in their opener while Spain overpowered Croatia 3-0. A win for either side will pave the way for a last-16 berth.
"There are many teams that play beautiful, attacking football. Spain is one of them, but you're not the only ones. Don't overestimate yourselves," Spalletti told Spanish reporters on Wednesday in Gelsenkirchen.
"But I like the football Spain play. As a consequence we are analysing what they do. It's attacking football, they will press very high, they will even press our goalkeeper.
"As regards to us we still have some work to do to reach that level."
Anticipation is building ahead of arguably the biggest game of a high-scoring, high-quality tournament so far between the defending champions and three-times winners.
But Spalletti does not want to make the match bigger than it is.
"This is not a 'derby' for me. When you play a Euros, all games are finals, all games are unique, all games are something to remember," he said.
"We want to play the same kind of football we played against Albania and measure ourselves against one of the strongest teams in Europe. I'm sure that if we leave the ball to them, it will end badly for us. So we'll have to take the initiative...against such great opponents."