Jorginho Will Take Italy's Next Penalty Kick --Spalletti

Italy coach Luciano Spalleti says that Arsenal midfielder Jorginho would be taking the next penalty kick for the Azzurri (The Blues) of Italy.

Jorginho has missed his last four spot kicks for the Italian team including penalty shootouts.

The former Chelsea player missed a penalty kick in Italy’s penalty shootout victory over England in the Euro 2020 final.

He subsequently couldn’t convert penalties in two different 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Switzerland.

Italy would have been at the last FIFA World Cup had any of those gone in.

He missed a fourth consecutive penalty against North Macedonia on Friday, November 17 at the Stadio Olimpico Tour.

Italy won the Euro 2024 qualifier against North Macedonia 5-2.

Federico Chiesa scored a brace for Italy on the night, while while Giacomo Raspadori, Matteo Darmian and Stephen El Shaarawy scored one apiece.

Jani Atanasov got a brace for the North Macedonians.

In the post match conference, Spalletti backed Jorginho to continue to take Italy’s penalties.

Jorginho had a great game tonight and a delicate one,” tuttomercatoweb.com quoted Spalletti as saying.

“I already told him that he will take the next spot kick and he agreed. I expected us to suffer, to clam up and try to hang on. Instead we got back to charging up the pitch, turning moves around and scoring goals.

“We will see how everyone is doing, but it was a good performance and we should work on what we saw. Whoever has the better of the final match will go to the Euros.”

Italy need just a draw against Ukraine in their last match in the Euro 2024 qualifiers to reach the tournament.

The Azzurri will square off against Ukraine on Monday, November 20 at the Bay Arena.

The Luciano Spalleti led side currently sit second in Group C of the Euro 2024 qualifiers with 13 points after seven fixtures.

Jorginho has played two games in the qualifying series.

He has made nine appearances for Arsenal in the Premier League this campaign.