Chelsea star says penalty failures will 'haunt him' after Italy fail to qualify for World Cup
- Michael Graham
- 25 March 2022
The Italian missed a number of penalties in Italy's failed World Cup qualifying campaign.
Chelsea midfielder Jorginho says he will be "haunted for the rest of his life" by his penalty failures after Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup.
The European Champions saw their hopes of making it to Qatar this year ended by a shock last-gasp 1-0 home defeat to North Macedonia in the play-offs.
However, it was earlier matches that were plaguing Jorginho's memory, with him twice missing crucial penalties in the qualifying campaign in each of the group games against Switzerland.
Both of those games were drawn, and Italy had to settle for second in the group.
"It is difficult to explain what happened," a tearful Jorginho told RAI Sport.
"It hurts so much. I'll be honest, I am still incredulous. I don't think we lacked creativity, as we always dominated matches and created so many chances. Unfortunately, we were unable to finish them off.
"We played good football, we won the European Championship last summer, but unfortunately in the last few games we made small errors and were unable to recover from them. They made the difference.
"It hurts when I think about it, because I do still think about it and it will haunt me for the rest of my life.
"Stepping up there twice and not being able to help your team and your country is something that I will carry with me forever, and it weighs on me.
"People say we need to lift our heads and carry on, but it's tough."
1 - Italy won't take part to the World Cup in two successive editions for the first time ever. Void.#ItaliaMacedonia
— OptaPaolo 🏆 (@OptaPaolo) March 24, 2022
Italy boss Roberto Mancini, meanwhile, blamed Italy's failure to qualify on simple bad fortune.
"The victory at the Euros was absolutely deserved, we played great football," he said.
"Then some of the fortune we had in that tournament turned into total and complete bad luck, as some unbelievable things happened from September onwards.
"We dominated the group, all we needed was one of those moments to go well, but neither of them did.
"Tonight, it feels almost as if conceding a goal at the 92nd minute was fitting. This is a group of fine players and I am sorry for them."
