“We’ve been thinking about this game since November”

Giorgio Chiellini, defender of Juventus and Italy, confessed that the ‘azzurra’ team has been thinking about the playoff game for the Qatar 2022 World Cup this Thursday against North Macedonia since last November, although the experience leads to live the match with “serenity”.

“We’ve been thinking about this match since November. I think that experience has to lead us to live it serenely, not with excessive tension, but aware that we shouldn’t do anything we don’t know how to do”, Chiellini declared at the press conference prior to the match. clash that will take place this Thursday in Palermo (Italy).

Italy is risking its presence in the 2022 World Cup. The ‘azzurra’ already missed the appointment in Russia 2018 and, now, with their status as European champions, staying out would be a bigger failure than the one that happened four years ago. “Not getting the classification four years ago doesn’t weigh us down, experience can help us,” said Chiellini.

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To get the World Cup ticket, Roberto Mancini’s men will have to beat North Macedonia on Thursday and the winner of Turkey-Portugal next Tuesday, March 29.

“We have two important games. We will take them one by one. There is a great atmosphere tomorrow, we feel good and we are ready,” assured the defender.

“We were unlucky and we could have done better with Bulgaria (1-1 in qualifying), we deserved to win. This Thursday we need humility, nothing extraordinary. It will not be an easy game, we have to play football with the right serenity and conviction. I am very calm and if we play as we know we will obtain the result”, he added.

The 37-year-old center-back arrives at the training camp with Italy after a calf injury that kept him off the pitch for a month. This day, Chiellini was once again a starter with the Turin team, although he only played the first 45 minutes.

Despite this, the Italian coach decided to include him in the list for this momentous week, although everything indicates that he will not start against North Macedonia.

“I’m fine. I’ve trained well, I’ve managed to recover and I’m happy to be here. There’s great enthusiasm in the locker room. We have the energy to win,” Chiellini said.