Arsenal midfielder Jorginho has caused quite a stir in Italy following his latest international outing.
The Gunners man missed his third consecutive penalty in Azzurri colours as Luciano Spalletti’s side won 5-2 against North Macedonia in Euro 2024 qualifying.
This has led to criticism from some quarters, with Sky Italia pundit Giuseppe Bergomi urging the Arsenal star to relinquish penalty-taking duties.
In the 40th minute of Friday’s match, with Italy a goal up, Nikola Serafimov’s handball led to the referee awarding the Azzurri a spot kick.
Jorginho immediately took the ball, hoping to make amends after his two poor penalties arguably cost Italy 2022 World Cup qualification.
However, the Arsenal man’s traditional hop and skip was followed by a weak effort that was easily saved by Stole Dimitrievski.
‘Confirmation beyond doubt’
Luckily for the Arsenal midfielder, Federico Chiesa went on to score a minute later before adding another just before the break.
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Despite a fightback by the visitors, who netted twice in the second half, Italy were emphatic winners come full time.
Even though Jorginho’s recent penalty record isn’t great, Spalletti insisted afterwards that the Arsenal star would continue to take responsibility from the spot.
Bergomi – who won the 1982 World Cup disagrees, telling Sky Italia, via The Mirror: “With all due respect, Jorginho has to bow down to the evidence here and admit penalties are no longer for him.
“That style of taking spot-kicks just does not work anymore and today we got confirmation beyond doubt.
“We can appreciate his character and mental strength in going up there again, but I’d say now enough is enough.
“He has to go to the coach and say let someone else take the next one.”
Jorginho a star for Arsenal and Italy but someone else should take over penalties – TBR View
As good a player as Jorginho is, perhaps it’s best if someone else in the Italy ranks steps up to take penalties.
The Azzurri aren’t exactly in a position to keep giving chances to a player who seems to have lost confidence from the spot.
Italy have failed to qualify for the last two World Cup and qualification for Euro 2024 is still in the balance.
With that in mind, it’s best if the Azzurri get the job done and, in the next friendlies, Jorginho should be given a chance then.