Juventus’ Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini looks on during the Italian Serie A football match between Hellas Verona and Juventus on October 30, 2021 at the Bentegodi stadium in Verona. (AFP/Marco Bertorello)
E
uropean champions Italy were "destroyed and crushed" after missing out on the World Cup finals again following a 1-0 defeat at home by North Macedonia in Thursday's playoff semi-final, defender Giorgio Chiellini said, quoted by Reuters.
Italy did not qualify for the 2018 World Cup, the first time they failed to reach soccer's global showpiece since 1958, and will miss Qatar after Aleksandar Trajkovski's last-gasp strike earned North Macedonia a famous win.
"I am proud of a team that has given everything, it is clear that we are destroyed and crushed, a great void will remain within us," said Chiellini, who replaced Gianluca Mancini in the 90th minute.
"There is a great disappointment, even today we played a good game but we couldn't score. From September to today we have made mistakes and we have paid for them."
Midfielder Marco Verratti said North Macedonia's goal in added time was a "real nightmare".
"This group had a great chance at the World Cup, we came from the unbeaten record, so it is difficult to accept what happened tonight," Verratti said.
"We all know that we have given everything, now surely it is time to ask ourselves some questions."
Italy will miss a second straight World Cup after losing to North Macedonia, but Portugal, Wales and Sweden all made it through to qualifying play-off deciders.
Four-time World Cup winners Italy were stunned in Palermo as Trajkovski — who used to play club football in the Sicilian city — fired past Gianluigi Donnarumma in the second minute of injury time to give North Macedonia an incredible 1-0 victory.
Italy will again be absent from the World Cup in Qatar after also failing to qualify for the 2018 tournament in Russia when they lost in a play-off to Sweden.
That was a traumatic experience for a nation that had previously been to every tournament since 1958, and this failure is all the more remarkable given that they were crowned European champions less than nine months ago.
That success for Roberto Mancini's side came during a world record 37-game unbeaten run, but four draws in their last five qualifiers last autumn saw them finish second in their group to Switzerland, exposing them to the dangers of the play-offs again.
North Macedonia, the Balkan nation of just two million people, held Italy to a draw in Turin in 2018 World Cup qualifying and beat Germany away in this campaign before appearing at their debut European Championship last year.
"We won the Italian way against the Italians, a goal from just two shots," said their coach, Blagoja Milevski, quoted by AFP.
