Captain Giorgio Chiellini joined Ciro Immobile, Nicoló Zaniolo and Lorenzo Pellegrini in the list of casualties of the Italian team for the important game this Friday against Switzerland, which puts into play key points to go directly to the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
In recent days, illustrious absences have been added to the already known loss due to Marco Verratti’s injury, and the last was Chiellini, who left the concentration of the Coverciano technical center due to a physical problem, reported the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) .
Coach Roberto Mancini, who replaced Ciro Immobile with Sassuolo forward Gianluca Scamacca on Tuesday, has made no changes to his roster despite Chiellini’s resignation.
The positive news came in midfield, as Nicoló Barella, Inter Milan midfielder, returned to work with the group after recovering from muscle discomfort suffered in last Sunday’s league derby against Milan.
Italy shares the lead in Group C with Switzerland, with 14 points, with two rounds remaining in this phase. Only the first classified will get the ticket for the World Cup, while the second will have to go through a repechage.
Italy cannot afford to stumble against Switzerland, after their absence from the 2018 World Cup, when they lost the play-off against Sweden.
This is the complete list for Italy:
Goalkeepers: Alessio Cragno (Cagliari), Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint Germain), Alex Meret (Naples), Salvatore Sirigu (Genoa);
Defenses: Francesco Acerbi (Lazio), Alessandro Bastoni (Inter), Cristiano Biraghi (Fiorentina), Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus), Davide Calabria (Milan), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Naples), Emerson Palmieri (Lyon), Gianluca Mancini (Rome);
Midfielders: Nicolò Barella (Inter), Danilo Cataldi (Lazio), Bryan Cristante (Roma), Jorginho (Chelsea), Manuel Locatelli (Juventus), Matteo Pessina (Atalanta), Tommaso Pobega (Torino), Sandro Tonali (Milan);
Forwards: Andrea Belotti (Torino), Domenico Berardi (Sassuolo), Federico Bernardeschi (Juventus), Federico Chiesa (Juventus), Lorenzo Insigne (Naples), Giacomo Raspadori (Sassuolo), Gianluca Scamacca (Sassuolo). EFE