Tuesday night’s elimination against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the World Cup play-off final means that there is now only one Italy player currently in Serie A that has previously featured in the World’s biggest international tournament.
Italy were beaten on penalties in Zenica on Tuesday night after being held level at 1-1 after 120 minutes of football. The Azzurri played with 10 men for 80 minutes after Alessandro Bastoni’s red card just before the end of the first half.
This is the third time in a row that Italy have fallen short at the World Cup play-off stage. As fans know all too well, the Azzurri have not qualified for the final tournament since 2014 and have not won a World Cup knock-out match since beating France in the final in 2006.
The now 36-year-old played the full 90 minutes in all three of Italy’s group stage matches in 2014, against England, Costa Rica and Uruguay, but Cesare Prandelli’s side did not qualify for the round of 16 after finishing the group with just one win and three points to their name.
There was one other current Serie A player in Italy’s 2014 World Cup squad, Juventus goalkeeper Mattia Perin, but he did not play in any matches at the tournament given that Gianluigi Buffon was the captain of the side.