Leonardo Bonucci warned Italy that “missing out on the World Cup is not an option” ahead of their crunch play-off with Sweden.
The Azzurri visit Stockholm for the first leg on Friday evening, then the decider is at Milan’s Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on Monday.
Leonardo Bonucci warned Italy that “missing out on the World Cup is not an option” ahead of their crunch play-off with Sweden.
The Azzurri visit Stockholm for the first leg on Friday evening, then the decider is at Milan’s Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on Monday.
“The play-off against Sweden presents two very difficult games against what is a very strong team, as shown in the group stage when they beat the Netherlands. It’ll be tough. But we’re Italy, and missing out on the World Cup is not an option,” the Milan defender told fifa.com.
“Sweden are a team that has made up for losing one of its best ever players, in Zlatan Ibrahimovic, by staying compact and looking to surprise the opposition. They’re not going to sit back, they fight for every ball.
“The qualities that we need to show in these two games are the same as ever. We have to stick together as a group, to be willing to make the sacrifice for each other, to be humble and to always give it our all.
“The history of Italian football shows us that this is how we have achieved success, be it with the national team or at club level.
“The last time Italy won the World Cup, there was a lot of chaos externally, but the whole country got behind the team and we won the tournament thanks to that magnificent squad of 23 and the maestro [Marcello] Lippi.
“Our strength is that we remain united in difficult times. So even though Italian football is not going through its most glorious period right now, we’re determined to put an end to our bad run and this is what we’re going to show out on the pitch against Sweden.”
The Nazionale are in their first World Cup play-off since 1997 after finishing as runners-up to Spain, although they only dropped points in the group stage against La Roja and Macedonia.
“The defeat against Spain created some problems. We thought that we were, if not better than Spain, then better than the account we gave of ourselves out on the pitch. That undermined the confidence of the group a bit.
“But the national team is going through a phase of regeneration and we have to be patient. As the older members of the squad, we need to motivate the young players to always give 100 per cent.”
This could be the first time Italy have failed to qualify for a World Cup since 1958, so the pressure on Bonucci and his teammates is enormous.
“We mustn’t create more pressure for ourselves. The situation is what it is, but we know – in difficult times – that we as Italians always manage to give that little bit more, that extra millimetre that will get us to the World Cup.”