Italy humiliated with World Cup KO by minnows North Macedonia

“IT’s coming Rome”, you told us. But it isn’t, is it?

Italy have failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup just 257 days after breaking hearts with England at Wembley Stadium.

4

4

4

The European champions were beaten 1-0 by North Macedonia in the play-off and will do so now MISS their second World Cup in a row.

Veteran centre-back Giorgio Chiellini stumped off after Thursday’s shock defeat and lamented that he was “disturbed”.

Jorginho said the defeat will ‘haunt me forever’ and boss Roberto Mancini will now be sacked.

And for England fans, it’s oh so cute.

The brave Three Lions were beaten on penalties by the Italians in last summer’s Euro final at Wembley.

We watched as the Azzurri displayed the trophy at the national stadium and mercilessly taunted fans and players alike.

Italian players sang “It’s Coming Home” and danced around the sacred Wembley turf in front of the heartbroken England stars before taunting us by saying “It’s Coming ROME”.

Leonardo Bonucci beat young Declan Rice after the West Ham ace claimed England were “10 times more motivated” than Italy ahead of kick-off.

FREE BETS AND SIGN UP OFFERS – THE BEST OFFERS FOR NEW CUSTOMERS

The veteran defender put the trophy on his head in celebration – before climbing into bed with it next to Chiellini.

The same Chiellini who brutally knocked down teenager Bukayo Saka when he shot clean with seconds remaining in the 90 minutes.

Cynical. Disgusting. “Pro foul,” they called it. Let’s call it a spade, this was a scam.

But on Thursday night a smug grin crept onto the faces of all England fans across the country.

North Macedonia stunned Italy with an extra-time effort from Aleksandar Trajkovski to secure their place in the play-off final against Portugal.

That’s right, they didn’t even make it to the play-off finals…

After the game, Chiellini claimed he was “distraught”, adding dramatically: “There is a great emptiness within us now.”

4

How do you think we all felt last summer?

England have not won a major trophy since 1966 – 56 years of injury and counting.

But at least we still qualify for the World Cup. Since 1994, England have not missed the greatest competition in international football.

Meanwhile, Italy missed out on the semi-finals – their last World Cup match will be against England in the 2014 group stage.

Your last knockout game? You have to go back to the 2006 World Cup final in Germany.

That’s almost 16 years ago. 5,737 days to be exact.

But who counts…