Italy vs. Estonia: Gennaro Gattuso to debut, forbidden to make mistakes
The Gewiss Stadium in Bergamo will host, Friday at 8:45 p.m., the debut on the bench of the national team of Gennaro Gattuso, the man to whom the Federacalcio has entrusted the Azzurri leadership after the exoneration of Luciano Spalletti. The opponent for Italy’s third game in Group I is Estonia, which has 3 points in the standings like Italy, having, however, played two more games.
Historically, the Estonian team has always suffered against the Azzurri, who have managed to win all seven of their previous matches, with 20 goals scored overall and just two conceded. The last encounter dates back to Nov. 11, 2020, in a friendly in Florence: Italy, on that occasion, prevailed with a round 4-0 win with goals by Grifo, Bernardeschi, Grifo again on a penalty kick and Orsolini, again from the penalty spot.
The standings impose only one result on the Azzurri, victory: this is the only way they can try to keep up with Norway, which in the first four matches has racked up a full haul (beating, among other things, Italy as well, with the 3-0 win last June that actually convinced the Figc to change course for the bench) and which in this September will play a match on paper easy against Moldova, the tail end of the group.
Achieving first would allow them to qualify for the World Cup without having to go through, by placing second, the very dangerous serpentine of the playoffs, where Italy has already stumbled in November 2017 and spring 2022. The Azzurri cannot miss any game starting with the one with Estonia if they do not want to enter history again through the wrong door.
