The Italian reporters covering today’s Euro 2016 Group H qualifier against Malta have been keen to discover what the ‘amateur’ Maltese players do for a living, the wages they get from their clubs and the Italians working in Maltese football.

Everyone expects Italy to swat aside ‘little’ Malta tonight but, during a news conference held after a light training session at Ta’ Qali, yesterday evening coach Antonio Conte invited the journalists to watch a dvd of last year’s encounter between the two countries by way of stressing his point that tonight’s game will be no stroll in the park.

Mario Balotelli scored a brace as Italy won 2-0 but, with the score still 1-0, Malta went close to equalising as Michael Mifsud hit the crossbar and had a penalty saved by Gianluigi Buffon.

“We expect another difficult match,’ Conte replied when asked if tonight’s game will be played on the same lines as Friday’s qualifier against the defensive Azerbaijan.

“We thought that Azerbaijan would be more positive in their approach after watching their games in the World Cup qualifiers and also friendlies.

“Malta will probably adopt a defensive attitude. I don’t know really. I’ve watched their game against Norway and Malta tried to play an open game, which was strange for them.They ended up conceded three goals from counter-attacks.

“I believe Malta will try to be compact and close the spaces. I told the players not to expect an easy game.

“Last year, Buffon saved a penalty and Malta also hit the crossbar. I suggest you watch a video of that game.”

Malta have not scored against Italy since Carmel Busuttil’s netting in 6-1 defeat in a World Cup qualifier back in 1993.

Italy have maximum points from their opening two qualifiers but have been criticised for their failure to make their technical superiority count in the 2-1 win over Azerbaijan.

Not that Conte is fazed.

“This is a very important moment for us,” Conte observed.

“We have embarked on a new journey and we have to think exclusively about working.

“Like a cyclist who has just started a stage, we need to pedal hard with our heads down without listening to the criticism or any incitement coming from outside.”

Conte, who took over from Cesare Prandelli in August after stepping down as coach of Juventus, believes that Italy are heading in the right direction after their disastrous World Cup campaign.

“I believe that we are creating something nice,” the 45-year-old said.

Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon (left) during training at the National Stadium.

“And the statistics attest to this. Only one month has passed since we started working together but we have already won against Holland, who are third in the world rankings, beat Norway away, something Italy had not done for 70 years, and won against Azerbaijan.

“We have six points in this qualification campaign. The thing that reassures me after the Azerbaijan game is the way we played. We had 22 shots on goal to Azerbaijan’s two.”

The Italy coach confirmed his intention to make some changes from Friday’s game but left the prying journalists guessing.

“There will be some changes from the Azerbaijan game,” Conte said. “But I’m not going to give you names and surnames... I think you are asking too much.

“This will be our second game in three days and there will be some new faces in the team.”

Pirlo rested

The indications are that Conte is thinking of changing the two wing-backs with Manuel Pasqual, of Fiorentina, and Lazio’s Antonio Candreva for Torino’s Matteo Darmian and Mattia De Sciglio, who plays for Milan.

There is also the chance that veteran midfielder Andrea Pirlo will be rested with Conte saying that the Juventus midfielder has played two games in a short period of time after returning from injury.

If Pirlo is given a breather, his place will be taken by Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Marco Verratti who “is in a great condition and ready to play”.

Asked about the prospect of Pirlo being man-marked by André Schembri, something the midfield maestro alluded to in his autobiography, Conte said that Pirlo “is used to having a fixed guardian shadowing him. He doesn’t like it because he likes to play football.”

Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon hailed his team’s reaction after Azerbaijan had levelled with only 14 minutes remaining in Palermo.

“After Azerbaijan made it 1-1, we feared the worst but we staged a strong reaction,” the Juventus keeper said.

“My team-mates are to be applauded not only for their approach and dedication in the game against Azerbaijan but also for their efforts in every training session.

“It was pleasing to see our reaction in the last 15 minutes of the Azerbaijan game.

“A divided team might have suffered a psychological collapse but we hit back, immediately creating two chances.”