Mancini’s mother slams son’s selection in Italy playoff defeat

The mother of Italy coach Roberto Mancini has been critical of his team selection after their World Cup playoff defeat to North Macedonia.

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Marianna Puolo also took aim at Chelsea midfielder Jorginho.

Marianna said: “Yesterday could’ve gone better, but this is football, sometimes things go right and sometimes things go wrong. We had the match in our hands but the attack wasn’t great.

“I would have called up (Mario) Balotelli, because he has incredible physical strength and in front of the goal nobody can stop him.”

“Unfortunately, mistakes like Jorginho’s cost us. I don’t want to point my finger at him because he certainly didn’t do it on purpose, but if you miss three penalties…”

Marianna also said: “Macedonia only had one shot, maybe Donnarumma could’ve saved it but it’s useless to talk about it now.

“This squad hasn’t lost the magic of the European Championship but perhaps some were afraid of making mistakes. Yesterday, I think the ones who celebrated the most were the English.”