Italy legend Fabio Cannavaro is confident Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci can stop Cristiano Ronaldo who ‘is not as agile as some years ago.’

Roberto Mancini’s Italy have been drawn with Portugal, North Macedonia and Turkey in their World Cup play-off group.

They will face Goran Pandev’s North Macedonia in the semi-final and could potentially meet Portugal or Turkey in the Final.

“Italy have nothing to fear as we play as we know,” Cannavaro told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

“Portugal are strong, but you need to beat anxiety in these games. Ronaldo would want to qualify for the World Cup, it’s the game he will live for.

“He keeps scoring goals, but Chiellini and Bonucci know his movements well and Cristiano is not as agile as he used to be some years ago and we could benefit from it.”

Ronaldo played three seasons with Chiellini and Bonucci at Juventus, winning two Serie A titles, one Coppa Italia and two Italian SuperCups.

He scored 101 goals in 134 appearances with the Bianconeri.

Investigators looking into Cristiano Ronaldo’s Juventus contract

He returned to Manchester United in a 15m deal plus €8m add-ons in the summer.

“We’ll need to recover those players who were injured in November and add quality midfielders such as [Marco] Verratti or [Lorenzo] Pellegrini,” Cannavaro added.

“Perhaps, Spinazzola will be ready in March.”

Cannavaro captained Italy during the 2006 World Cup won by the Azzurri in Germany. He has 136 senior caps to his name.

The former defender is also the last Italian player to have won the Ballon d’Or.

He received the award in 2006 after Italy’s World Cup victory.

13 thought on “Cannavaro explains how Italy can stop Cristiano Ronaldo”
  1. These guys need to stop talking . Ronaldo is actually going to torch Italy as he always has when he played with Madrid and now united . Add to the fact that both chellini and bonucci talked crap about him and he is playing at home , Italy have no chance .

  2. look italy has to get past a semi final 1st. it would be foolish to just assume portugal will get past turkey. anything can happen. italy needs to concentrate on its 1st opponent not worried about portugal.

  3. Italy can’t stop talking trash. Honestly, I can’t think of another country that talks more trash than Italians? We complain about England fans but we are not really that different. You think that after 4 world cups and 2 finals we would be a humble nation when it comes to soccer? We are not.

    As an Italian I actually would take great pleasure in Ronaldo shoving the ball down our throats. We deserve it and that’s the truth. You start to wonder many Ronaldo not wanting to learn Italian was a way to try and avoid all the nonsense that goes on over there in Italy?

  4. The collective is greater than the individual talent when it comes to the Italian team. Mancini has to refind that unity. They beat England in their stadium so I am not fearful of playing in Lisbon.

    Need injured players back – Spina, Lazzarri, Chiellini, Immobile, Veratti, Zaniolo, Pellegrini. These guys alone are better than the B team we played against Switzerland

  5. @Mike…

    I tend to agree with your sentiment on this one. A few honest questions, please.

    1. With Spinazzola a possible return and with possible additions of the three Brazilian Italian nationals we should have enough reinforcements, no?

    2. What about the possible additions of El Sharawy, il Faraone and Kean? If they are fit and in form could provide attacking options up front.

    3. I still like Immobile. He tracks back and has a great work rate. Opens opportunities for others.

    4. Again, I share your sentiments. However, does Italy really not have a chance?

  6. Why are people in here bashing italy so much. Italy is being very humble. Italy has never guaranteed anything. Even their coach mancini said after the draw that it’s a difficult playoff path. He isnt underestimating any team. You want to talk about arrogance than look at the portugal coach Santos who has already guaranteed Portugal champions of that path in his recent comments. Not to mention that Ronaldo against Serbia stated they will win that game easily. Italy is the most humble team out there and the only reason why they bashed the england team in the euros is because the English team started saying that it’s their euros for sure.

  7. All Mike likes to do is criticise Italy. He is most probably 100% English, and as such is a little envious of a nation that is immeasurably better than them at playing the game they invented.

  8. Do the Italy “fans” on this site ever calm down? Shocking levels of non support. Non stop criticism when the real reason they’re in the playoffs is because of one person. If Jorginho converts even just one of the two penalties he missed, Italy are in the World Cup. It is HIS fault. Frankly embarrassing. All you read on this site is pessimism.

  9. Italy hasn’t learned a thing since the embarrassment of 4 years ago. Football Italia had an article a few days ago about the lack of Strikers actually playing in Serie A. You can extend the issue beyond strikers. Look at the makeup of even the lower tier teams and lack of Italians playing. Seems Italy has great young players but the majority stop developing once they graduate to serie A due to lack of playing time. I expect Italy to not qualify again.

  10. Matt,

    No, man. They deserve this criticism. They took September off and because of that left no room for error.

    This qualification should have been sealed in September OR with a Draw in Basel. Even at the end, they have a +2 GD and still couldn’t take it home.

    No more resting on EC 2020 laurels. They need to win 2 matches in March and that’s that.

  11. There is an article somewhere on bringing Pedro Ibanez etc, this is Italys problem these ahole bootleg wannabe journalist putting this sht out there. We have plenty talent and can beat anyone. We are where we are and we will figure out as we civilized the entire world. Scamacca should be an option and there are plenty others. We dont need outsiders. All u wannabe or fake italy fans chastising italy, shit happens. Instead of complaining write about and complain how ur national team and leagues are being torn to shreds and water downs year after year by owners, politicians and especially journalist.

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