Chelsea midfielder Jorginho has admitted that "small errors" cost Italy in their World Cup qualifier against North Macedonia, a total contrast to what happened in the Euro 2020 final against England.
Robert Mancini's side were odds on favourite to make the 2022 World Cup in Qatar after their re-emergence amongst the elite was confirmed with their Wembley win against Gareth Southgate's side via penalties in the summer. However, they needed to back this up with qualification for this year's World Cup having missed out in the 2018 competition that was held in Russia.
Despite registering a host of shots throughout the 90 minutes, it was their opponents and Euro 2020 newbies North Macedonia that delivered the knockout blow in injury time, which has left Italian fans quickly forgetting about their heroics last summer. Aleksander Trajkovski's low driven effort outside the box evaded the long arms of Gianluigi Donnarumma to the elation of Macedonian fans who were sat in a small corner of the stadium in Palermo.
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After the Gil Azzuri couldn't muster up a very late storm, the final whistle led to emotional scenes with Marco Verratti in tears, whilst Jorginho's head was firmly placed in his hands as he trudged off the pitch in a state of shock. It is a result that he has admitted will haunt him for a very long time. "It hurts when I think about [the missed penalties earlier in qualifying], because I do still think about it, and it will haunt me for the rest of my life," he told Italian outlet Rai Sports.
"Stepping up there twice and not being able to help your team and your country is something that I'll carry with me forever, and it weighs on me. People say we need to lift our heads and carry on, but it's tough. It is difficult to explain what happened. It hurts so much. I'll be honest, I am still incredulous.
"I don't think we lacked creativity, as we always dominated matches and created so many chances. Unfortunately, we were unable to finish them off. We played good football, we won the European Championship last summer, but unfortunately in the last few games, we made small errors and were unable to recover from them. They made the difference."
Small errors indeed, but Tuchel, who was hoping for the best outcome for his players, will now have a big task on his hands ahead of the fixture against Brentford. Jorginho was mocked for his Ballon d'Or nominations after Thursday night's defeat, with his mistake leading to the injury-time goal coupled with his penalty misses in qualifying.
