Leonardo Bonucci urges his Italy teammates to remember the Final against England ahead of their crucial World Cup qualifying match against Switzerland.
The Azzurri veteran spoke at a press conference ahead of tomorrow’s match at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.
It kicks off at 19.45 UK time.
Italy and Switzerland are the Group C leaders, but the Azzurri have a better goal difference with two games remaining.
All the pressure will be on the Nazionale, especially after failing to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.
“The experience of 2017 remains within us, like all the positive of negative experiences,” Bonucci said at a press conference.
“We were not anxious before the Final against England and we must live those emotions again.
“We need to think about tomorrow’s game and then we’ll focus on Monday’s,” Bonucci continued.
“We must put in a great performance and then think about Monday to finish the job. There are positive feelings, it’s always been like this since Mancini is in charge.”
Mancini: ‘Italy have room for improvement, Barella and Belotti…’
Italy will visit Northern Ireland on Monday, November 15, in the last World Cup qualifying match.
Bonucci is expected to play against Switzerland, but a few Juventus fans complained on social media that he hadn’t played against Fiorentina last weekend.
“I was a bit tired, but I told Allegri I was able to play,” said Bonucci.
“The coach made his decision and it was a good one, given Daniele Rugani’s performance. These are frivolous polemics. They lack respect for the human being. We are always here and we always want to win, both with the club and with the national team.”
Mancini also spoke to the media, saying Nicolò Barella and Andrea Belotti could start against Switzerland tomorrow and once tried to ease the pressure from the Azzurri ahead of tomorrow’s match.
“The lads are calm and focused, they know we must be at our best to win tomorrow,” Mancini said.
“Switzerland play great football, every game against Switzerland has been challenging, we need to play our way, they’ll do their best, like us.
If we beat Switzerland wouldn’t we qualify in first place regardless of the result with Northern Ireland? we’d go 3 points ahead, and would win the head-to-head battle (plus have a better GD).
Head-to-head Result is not the 1st Tie Breaker. Goals Scored are, iirc. Then Goal Difference.
If we were to lose in NI by a modest 1-0 and the Swiss beat Bulgaria, say 4-0, then they are through.
Gli Azzurri winning tomorrow makes life easier.
italy will qualify, don’t worry. impossible to believe the euro champ being eliminated by a couple of crappy sides.
Anything can happen. Swiss are always dangerous and we had beaten Bulgaria at home a tie would have been enough tomorrow
Tell you what though, Northern Ireland did us a favor by holding them to a Draw early on.
If not, THEY would have only needed a Draw against us.
I really hope Bulgaria summon the courage and enthusiasm to battle them on Monday.
But @imposterboy I thought that eating at Mama Sid’s Pizza in Athens Georgia makes me somewhat Italian. I even eat processed string cheese. I gave up on the US mens national soccer team as they never made it to the last WC in 2018. Cannot blame a guy for trying after all I am from a rural place. 🤟