Roberto Mancini has called up Juventus defender Mattia De Sciglio to replace injured Giovanni Di Lorenzo in the Italy squad for the World Cup play-offs.
The change was necessary after Napoli right-back Di Lorenzo was diagnosed with a sprained right knee, which he sustained during yesterday’s 2-1 Serie A victory over Udinese.
While many had expected Milan right-back Davide Calabria to get the nod, especially considering his form for the Serie A leaders, Mancini has gone for De Sciglio instead.
Although De Sciglio rarely features for Juventus, he did provide an assist today for Dusan Vlahovic’s header in the 2-0 win over Salernitana.
De Sciglio usually plays at left-back, but is famously versatile and can do a job on the right too.
Italy will face North Macedonia in Palermo on March 24 and the winners of that game will go on to play either Turkey or Portugal in the World Cup play-off final for a spot at the tournament in Qatar.
Italy squad
Goalkeepers: Alessio Cragno (Cagliari), Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint Germain), Pierluigi Gollini (Tottenham), Salvatore Sirigu (Genoa)
Defenders: Francesco Acerbi (Lazio), Alessandro Bastoni (Inter), Cristiano Biraghi (Fiorentina), Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Mattia De Sciglio (Juventus), Emerson Palmieri (Lyon), Alessandro Florenzi (Milan), Luiz Felipe (Lazio), Gianluca Mancini (Roma)
Midfielders: Nicolò Barella (Inter), Bryan Cristante (Roma), Jorginho (Chelsea), Manuel Locatelli (Juventus), Lorenzo Pellegrini (Roma), Matteo Pessina (Atalanta), Stefano Sensi (Sampdoria), Sandro Tonali (Milan), Marco Verratti (Paris Saint Germain)
Forwards: Andrea Belotti (Torino), Domenico Berardi (Sassuolo), Ciro Immobile (Lazio), Lorenzo Insigne (Napoli), Joao Pedro (Cagliari), Matteo Politano (Napoli), Giacomo Raspadori (Sassuolo), Gianluca Scamacca (Sassuolo), Mattia Zaccagni (Lazio), Nicolò Zaniolo (Roma)