Italy boss Luciano Spalletti has stated that Jorginho remains a ‘special’ penalty taker despite the Arsenal man missing a spot-kick for the Azzurri against North Macedonia.
Spalletti’s Italy picked up a convincing 5-2 win over North Macedonia but at a point, it seem as if the Azzurri were in trouble. North Macedonia had pulled two goals back after being 3-0 down and they were back in with a shout before the Azzurri grabbed two more goals to seal the deal.
When the scoreline was 1-0, Jorginho had missed a penalty to deny Italy the chance of making it 2-0. It was the midfielder’s fourth missed penalty in a row and it doesn’t reflect well on someone who is usually a reliable spot-kick taker.
After the game, Spalletti spoke to Rai Sport (via TMW) about Jorginho and said: “We must congratulate him. The goalkeeper was good at making him believe he was nothing. Jorginho remains a special penalty taker for Italy.”
Italy are now at second in their UEFA Euros qualifying group, with England also having picked up a 2-0 win over Malta in their game, keeping themselves at the top with a gap of six points.
Kaustubh Pandey | GIFN
