Arsenal midfielder Jorginho missed another penalty last night as Italy cruised to a win over North Macedonia to edge closer to Euro 2024.
The Azzurri now face Ukraine in a bid to confirm their place in the tournament.
Italy have a wealth of talent at their disposal both experienced and young. Of course, Arsenal star Jorginho is on the more experienced end of the scale and over the years, has had a good record from the penalty spot.
However, he has missed a few now and that continued last night.
But speaking about Jorginho after the game, Italy boss Luciano Spalletti has confirmed he’s told Jorginho he’ll be taking the next one, to which the Arsenal man has agreed.
Spalletti backs Jorginho after penalty nightmare
A lot had already been made of this before the game so it was just typical that Italy did get a pen.
Jorginho missed. But Spalletti has said it makes no difference and he still wants the £12m midfielder on duty from 12 yards.
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“Congratulations must be given to him, because the goalkeeper was very good at making him believe he had a gap, he didn’t angle much. Jorginho remains a special penalty taker for Italy. He’s fine because he played a great game, because he won a delicate game. I told him he’ll kick the next one and he said yes,” Spalletti said.
Whether or not Jorginho would be afford such duty at Arsenal though, is another question.
Bukayo Saka has been doing well from the spot and captain Martin Odegaard has also taken them.
Jorginho might be the senior statesman for the Italians. But at The Emirates, he’s very much down the pecking order in terms of penalty kicks.