12 June 2017
One thumping victory and one narrow loss was the story on Sunday evening for the Bianconeri’s international contingent.
Gianluigi Buffon, Andrea Barzagli and Giorgio Chiellini played the full 90 of Italy’s World Cup qualifier against Liechtenstein and would comfortably keep a clean sheet whilst watching the men in front of them do the damage at the other end.
Lorenzo Insigne, Andrea Belotti, Eder, Federico Bernardeschi and Manolo Gabbiadini all got on the scoresheet to ensure that the Azzurri sit level on points (16) with Spain at the top of Group G. Italy, however, still trail the current category leaders on goal difference.
Meanwhile, Mario Mandzukic’s Croatia suffered a dramatic, late defeat at the hands of Iceland on Sunday night.
Former Juventus defender Hordur Magnusson celebrated the winning strike in the 90th minute – just two minutes after Mandzukic was substituted off – to send the Scandinavians into second place and level on points (13) with Group I leaders Croatia, who remain top by virtue of a superior goal difference.
There are no Bianconeri involved in international duty today, but the club’s South American contingent return to friendly action on Tuesday with Argentina (Paulo Dybala and Gonzalo Higuain) taking on Singapore, Brazil (Alex Sandro) facing Australia and Colombia (Juan Cuadrado) coming up against Cameroon.
