Italy manager Gennaro Gattuso has said that Thursday’s World Cup play-off semi-final against Northern Ireland is the most important match he has ever managed.
Italy play Northern Ireland in Bergamo, hoping to end a 12-year absence from the World Cup. They failed to qualify for both the 2018 and 2022 tournaments.
“Tomorrow is definitely the most important match of my career,” Gattuso told reporters. “I’m not thinking about things going wrong, I want to be positive and give it everything we’ve got.”
Gattuso admitted the match feels even bigger than the 2006 World Cup final, which he won as a player against France on penalties, though he added that the two situations are quite different.
“There’s no real comparison,” he said. “It’s not so much the nerves, it’s the responsibility I’ve taken on.”
He also joked that he had been struggling to sleep and needed pills to help him get through the night.
Gattuso confirmed that most of his squad are fit, with only defender Alessandro Bastoni and striker Gianluca Scamacca carrying doubts.
Striker Mateo Retegui, Serie A’s top scorer with Atalanta in 2024/25, is back at the ground where he scored twice in a 5–0 win over Estonia. He now plays in Saudi Arabia but stressed that only a win will do.
Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill said he wants a tight game and urged his players not to be put off by Italy’s reputation. He led Northern Ireland to their first ever European Championship back in 2016. If Italy win, they will face either Wales or Bosnia and Herzegovina away from home on Tuesday.
