14 November 2017
Italy headed into Monday's do-or-die World Cup Qualifier against Sweden needing to turn around a 1-0 deficit from the first leg. Despite out-shooting Sweden 27-4 and creating multiple scoring chances throughout the match, Gli Azzurri couldn't find the back of the net, crashing out of World Cup Qualifying for the first time since 1958.
Gianluigi Buffon, Andrea Barzagli and Giorgio Chiellini started the match while Federico Bernardeschi came on as a substitute in the final miniutes. After the match, Buffon announced his retirement from the national team, over 20 years since making his debut on 23 October 1997. Additionally, Barzagli said it would be his final competitive Italy match as well.
In friendly action yesterday, Wojciech Szczesny started and played all 90 minutes in Poland's 1-0 loss to Mexico.
Today, seven Bianconeri are in action:
- Paulo Dybala and Argentina vs. Nigeria
- Juan Cuadrado and Colombia vs. China
- Alex Sandro/Douglas Costa and Brazil vs. England
- Rodrigo Bentancur and Uruguay vs. Austria
- Blaise Matuidi and France vs. Sami Khedira and Germany
