Tonight in Bergamo, Italy face the most uncomfortable fixture in their recent history — a third consecutive World Cup playoff semi-final. Having missed out on the 2018 and 2022 tournaments through playoff defeats to Sweden and North Macedonia, Gennaro Gattuso's side know exactly how quickly this can go wrong.
The match kicks off at 7:45pm GMT at the New Balance Arena. The winner faces either Wales or Bosnia-Herzegovina on March 31 for the final spot in the World Cup.
Italy finished second in their qualifying group behind Norway — a group in which Erling Haaland scored 16 goals in eight games. Gattuso deliberately chose Bergamo as the venue, where Italy get genuine crowd support, over the San Siro where the whistles come early.
Key absences hurt. Federico Chiesa and Gianluca Scamacca are both out. Sandro Tonali is a doubt with a thigh issue — a significant blow for a team that needs midfield creativity. Northern Ireland are ranked 69th in the world, but they only conceded six goals in five qualifying games and set up to defend with a compact five-man block.
Italy have never lost to Northern Ireland and have never conceded against them in their entire head-to-head history. But Sweden and North Macedonia were also supposed to be formalities.
