Tomorrow is the day of Switzerland-Italy and any scenario must be considered, even that of penalties. If it comes to the penalty lottery, which Azzurri will show up on the spot? Here is the possible Spalletti’s listwithout forgetting the precedents of Jorginho con Sommer.
Switzerland-Italy, penalties hypothesis: who takes them? The coach’s choices
He provided some names himself Spalletti in recent days: “There are many in the squad who know how to kick them: Scamacca, Retegui, Dimarco and Barella. And in my opinion they know how to beat them too Calafiori and Jorginho”. Then, as we know, not everything is revealed to the media. So, we must also add to the list Pellegrini and Zaccagni. Of course, there is a lack of a real specialist. In fact, none of the potential penalty takers mentioned kick them in their clubs. Scamacca is blocked by Koopmeiners, Barella and Dimarco by the infallible sniper Calhanoglu, Retegui by Gudmundsson, Calafiori has never tried it in Thiago Motta’s Bologna. Jorginho was one with Verona, Napoli and Chelsea, but in blue he is wrapped in a sort of curse.
Jorginho and the nightmare Switzerland: the Italian-Brazilian against Sommer
He is certainly the Italian footballer with the most experience from eleven metres Jorginhobut in the national team it has now become a taboo. The Arsenal midfielder has missed the last four penalties in blueof which two are directly against Sommer and the Swiss. And they were very serious mistakes. The current Inter goalkeeper intercepted the Italian-Brazilian’s shot in the 0-0 draw of the first match between the two teams in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers in Qatar, complicating Italy’s path to Roberto Mancini. Much more serious was the penalty kicked high in the 90th minute in the second match at the Olimpico in Rome which ended 1-1: that mistake condemned the Azzurri to the play-offs. And, unfortunately, we all know how it went.
And if a penalty was awarded during the match, who would take it?
In the first three outings atItalia no penalties have been awarded yet, so there are no indications in this sense. Let’s start with Jorginho, who is also threatened by Beans. After missing two penalties in a row against Switzerland, what state of mind would he have on the spot? Despite his experience, he would risk feeling the weight of the pressure. The possible penalty taker could therefore be Barella, who made three out of four in Serie A during his time with Cagliari. And watch out Pellegriniwhich, although closed by Dybala in Roma, still boasts a score – between championship and cups – of 11 penalties scored and four missed.
