Northern Ireland v Italy (15/11/2021)

JORGINHO MIDFIELD CHELSEA AGE 29 CAPS 41 GOALS 5 Central midfielder who has enjoyed a magical calendar year, winning the Champions League with Chelsea and Euro 2020 with Italy. Born in Brazil, Jorginho moved to Italy at the age of 15 and made his senior debut in 2016. Starred at Napoli and was brought to Chelsea by Maurizio Sarri. AGE 22 CAPS 0 GOALS 0 One of only two uncapped players called up by Roberto Mancini. Pobega is on the books at Milan but is on his fourth loan away from the club. He only made his Under-21 debut a year ago and scored twice in a 2-1 victory over Iceland. Has scored twice in nine league games for Torino this term. NICOLÒ BARELLA MIDFIELD INTER MILAN AGE 24 CAPS 34 GOALS 7 Dynamic box-to-box midfielder who started his career at Cagliari and now stars for Inter Milan, with whom he won the Serie A title last season. Barella, who has represented Italy at every age group from Under-15 to senior level, has an eye for goal having scored three international goals since June. TOMMASO POBEGA MIDFIELD TORINO

DANILO CATALDI MIDFIELD LAZIO AGE 27 CAPS 0 GOALS 0 A late call-up to the squad following the withdrawals of Roma duo Lorenzo Pellegrini and Nicolo Zaniolo. Rome-born Cataldi has made over 100 appearances for Lazio having come through the club’s academy. He was a regular for Italy Under-21s between 2014 and 2017.

BRYAN CRISTANTE MIDFIELD ROMA AGE 26 CAPS 21 GOALS 1 Attacking midfielder who has scored 20 goals combined in Serie A for Milan, Atalanta and current club Roma. He also spent time in Portugal with Benfica. Cristante came on in the Euro 2020 final. In fact all six of his appearances at that tournament came from the bench. MATTEO PESSINA MIDFIELD ATALANTA AGE 24 CAPS 11 GOALS 4 A member of the Italy Under-20 team that finished third at the 2017 World Cup, Pessina received his first senior call-up a year ago. He was initially left out of the Euro 2020 squad but was later called up following an injury to Stefano Sensi, and Pessina scored twice at the tournament.

MANUEL LOCATELLI MIDFIELD JUVENTUS

AGE 23 CAPS 19 GOALS 3 Locatelli made his senior breakthrough at AC Milan before joining Sassuolo and then Juventus, whom he moved to in August on a two-year loan with an obligation to buy. Another who has represented Italy at every level from the Under-15 age group, Locatelli scored twice in the 3-0 win over Switzerland at the Euros.

SANDRO TONALI MIDFIELD AC MILAN AGE 21 CAPS 5 GOALS 0

Highly rated young midfielder who has drawn comparisons with Andrea Pirlo who, like Tonali, began his career at Brescia. Tonali won the Italian Golden Boy Award in 2020 and made his senior debut in 2019. Tonali has scored twice in Serie A this season already for Milan, for whom he has made 10 league starts.

ANDREA BELOTTI FORWARD TORINO

DOMENICO BERARDI FORWARD SASSUOLO

AGE 27 CAPS 40 GOALS 12 Played up front alongside Kyle Lafferty and current Juventus star Paulo Dybala in the Palermo team that won the Serie B title in 2013-14 under Gennaro Gattuso. Belotti later moved to Torino and recently reached 100 goals in Serie A. Has been a full international for Italy since 2016.

AGE 27 CAPS 22 GOALS 6 Scored the first goal in the 2-0 victory over Northern Ireland back in March and has found the net twice since. Berardi has made more than 300 appearances for Sassuolo, scoring over 100 goals. He scored Italy’s first goal in the penalty shoot-out win over England in the Euro 2020 final.

IRISHFA.COM

29