ROME (AP) — Arsenal defender Riccardo Calafioli say Italy national team coach Gennaro Gattuso For the past four months, I’ve called him more often than my mother.
This shows how much attention Gattuso paid to his players between the Azzurri’s last game in November and Thursday’s match. world cup playoffs with Northern Ireland.
In an effort to avoid the four-time champions missing out on a third consecutive World Cup, Gattuso crisscrossed Italy and made numerous overseas trips to have dinner with players and keep team spirit up.
“In the last few months, I’ve heard more from him than from my mother,” Calafioli said Tuesday at Italy’s Coverciano training facility in Florence.
“Even when I was out and I wasn’t playing much, he called me constantly,” Calafioli said of the month he was sidelined with a muscle injury, from late December to late January. “And having dinner with him was great. It gave us a chance to be together. It was like a dinner with friends.”
Gattuso, Buffon, Bonucci
In addition to Gattuso, Italy’s national team chief Gianluigi Buffon and assistant coach Leonardo Bonucci (all former Italian national team players) were also present at the dinner in London.
“The three of us had a lot of soccer anecdotes, so there were a lot of stories shared,” Calafioli said.
Calafioli, 23, who can seamlessly switch between left-back and centre-back, helped Bologna qualify for the Champions League before joining Arsenal in 2024.
After recovering from a minor bruise against Arsenal on Sunday, he has now switched his attention to limiting Northern Ireland’s dead-ball opportunities.
“You have to be careful because it’s dangerous. Free kicks can make the difference. In modern football, the gap between teams is closing,” Calafioli said. “We also need to be careful about loose balls.”
Goals beyond the Premier League title
Calafioli, who has become a regular with the Italian national team, is still regaining fitness from a month’s break after starting the season as a consistent member of Arsenal’s starting XI.
But starters are not guaranteed at Arsenal these days, with Piero Hincapie performing well in Calafiori’s absence and retaining his place now that the Italian has returned.
Arsenal lost to Manchester City, but england league cup final On Sunday, Calafiori left Arsenal with a nine-point lead over City and a chance of winning the Premier League.
But Calafioli has other goals as well.
“It was my childhood dream to go to the World Cup, so I can’t wait to play in this match,” he said.
In addition to defeating Northern Ireland at home in Bergamo on Thursday, Italy must also defeat either Wales or Bosnia and Herzegovina away next week to qualify for the next North American tournament.
The Azzurri were eliminated in the play-offs in the last two World Cups. Sweden and north macedoniarespectively.
“We need to prepare like any other game,” Calafiori said. “We know how delicate it is.”
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