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.
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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.