Many Italy stars, including Marco Verratti and Gigio Donnarumma, broke down to tears at the Stadio Renzo Barbera after a 1-0 loss against North Macedonia yesterday.
The defeat means La Nazionale have missed out on the second successive World Cup for the first time in history. Roberto Mancini’s boys dominated the match in Palermo, collecting 32 shots, but that was not enough to secure a victory as North Macedonia scored the winner in the stoppages with their second shot on target.
Many players on the pitch had also played against Sweden less than five years ago. Among them, Giorgio Chiellini, Jorginho, Alessandro Florenzi and Ciro Immobile. Chiellini and Jorginho spoke to Rai Sport after the match last night and struggled to fight back the tears while answering journalists’ questions.
Italy out of the World Cup: the worst players against North Macedonia
Verratti was injured in 2017 but was one of the most desperate yesterday and was seen crying on the Azzurri’s bench after the game against North Macedonia.
The PSG star was arguably the best Azzurri player on the pitch yesterday and many highlighted how he didn’t deserve to miss out on the World Cup at the peak of his career. The Azzurri played their last World Cup in 2014 and haven’t played a knock-out game in the competition since 2006 when Fabio Cannavaro lifted the cup in Berlin.