All of the ingredients were there for a fairytale ending: conceding early, the equaliser, the crowd roaring them on and the penalty in the 90th minute, with the 52,000 fans at the Stadio Olimpico ready to erupt with joy. But, like two months ago in Basel, Jorginho missed from the spot and Italy will have to wait until Monday evening to find out whether they are through to the finals in Qatar or if they’ll have to go via the playoffs. The Azzurri went a goal down following a splendid strike from Silvan Widmer and brought themselves level on the verge of half time through full-back Di Lorenzo. Italy pushed hard and won the penalty that could have virtually seen them qualify directly for the tournament in 2022. But that has all been put on hold; Italy travel to Belfast on Monday with a goal difference lead of +2 over Switzerland, who host Bulgaria.

THE GAME. Without four members of the squad from the Euros – Spinazzola, Chiellini, Verratti and Immobile – and after having also lost Pellegrini and Zaniolo, Mancini chose Acerbi to partner Bonucci in the heart of the defence and went with the same centre-midfield that faced Switzerland in the EURO 2020 group stage match: Barella’s recovery from injury saw him playing alongside Jorginho and Locatelli. Belotti started ahead of the injured Immobile with Chiesa and Insigne on either side of him. Switzerland had a raft of enforced absences too, with captain Xhaka, Embolo, Seferovic, Elvedi, Fassnacht and Zuber all missing. With Gavranovic not 100% fit, Switzerland head coach Yakin went with 21-year-old Red Bull Salzburg striker Noah Okafor, handing him only his second international cap. Okafor started up top with ex-Inter player Shaqiri and Steffen in support. Schär came in for Elvedi in defence alongside Akanji, with former Udinese man Widmer and Ricardo Rodriguez as the full-backs. Freuler, Zakaria and Vargas formed a powerful midfield trio in front of a defence that has conceded just one goal in qualifying.

In his pre-match press conference, Mancini had said that he expected Switzerland not to sit back and defend given that they were in need of three points. And he wasn’t wrong: in the eleventh minute, the Swiss took the lead with their first shot on goal. Okafor took off down the left and cut it back to Widmer, who leathered it home just under the crossbar. Switzerland came close to a second as Okafor fired goalwards on the turn. Mancini called for calm from the Italy bench because, while on the hunt for an equaliser, Italy were leaving themselves far too open at the back. The Azzurri steadied the ship and came agonisingly close to an equaliser in the 22nd minute; Emerson came down the left and fed Jorginho, whose effort was blocked. The ball dropped to Barella, whose effort was turned behind by Sommer. Two minutes later, Chiesa had a go too but Sommer got down smartly and blocked the shot. The Swiss stopper, however, got it wrong in the 36th minute; Di Lorenzo made the most of it and headed home to make it 1-1 from Insigne’s free-kick. The Olimpico celebrated twice, once when it went in and once following a lengthy VAR check.

After the break, the 52,000 fans in the Olimpico tried to drive the Azzurri on to victory but there was a slack lack of fluidity in Italy’s build-up play. Thus Mancini decided to send on two fresh faces in Berardi and Tonali in place of Belotti and Locatelli, with Insigne moving more central. Italy were left rueing another missed chance as Sommer denied Emerson. Italy pushed for the second and Insigne tried with his trademark curling effort from the edge of the box: Sommer saved. Ten minutes from full time, Mancini made two more changes: Calabria and Raspadori on, Insigne and Emerson off. Chiesa had a guilt-edged chance but fired over the bar. Garcia then brought Berardi down in the box and, after referee Anthony Taylor checked his monitor, Italy were awarded a penalty. Jorginho stepped up to take it and fired over the crossbar. Hearts were in mouths in added time as Donnarumma spilled it to Zakaria and substitute Zeqiri couldn’t sort his feet out to get the shot off. The game ended 1-1 but, nevertheless, the crowd applauded the Azzurri. Italy will have to win on Monday and, hopefully, score as many goals as possible.

Schedule (all times CET unless stated otherwise)

Saturday 13 November
15:00 – Training at the Acqua Acetosa Olympic Training Centre in Rome (behind closed doors)
Sunday 14 November
10:30 – Transfer from Rome to Belfast
11:30 l.t Training, Northern Ireland (first 15 minutes open to the press)
13:00 l.t – Press conference, Northern Ireland ***(access for journalists)
17:30 l.t – Press conference, ITALY ***(access for journalists)
18:00 l.t – Training ITALY ***(first 15 minutes open to the media)
Monday 15 November
19:45 l.t – Northern Ireland vs. ITALY. Followed by post-match press conference and return to respective clubs

*Depending on capacity, journalists and photographers will be granted access to the press conference and the first 15 minutes of the team’s training session on Monday 8 November
**Only journalists will have access to successive press conferences at Coverciano, with the remaining training sessions taking place behind closed doors. TV operators will not be granted access. The FIGC will produce and distribute images relating to press conferences and training sessions to relevant parties upon request. For more info: Massimiliano Reale (FIGC Area Sales): email: m.reale@figcit. Tel: 06/84913023.
***The press conferences in Belfast will be reserved for eight media outlets. A Zoom link will be provided for accredited journalists to follow the conference.