Gattuso warning for Italy: ‘Bosnia have very experienced players’
Gattuso warning for Italy: ‘Bosnia have very experienced players’ Gennaro Gattuso gives his first comment after learning Italy will face Bosnia and Herzegovina in the World Cup play-off final. ‘There are a lot of experienced players, Wales are very different. ’ The Azzurri were forced to wait for quite a while after their 2-0 victory over Northern Ireland , as Edin Dzeko cancelled out the Welsh opener in Cardiff and forced extra time.
It remained 1-1 after 120 minutes and they could only be separated in a penalty shoot-out. The final for a spot in the World Cup will be at the Bilino Polje stadium in Zenica on Tuesday March 31. Gattuso preparing Italy for Bosnia trip BERGAMO, ITALY – MARCH 26: Gennaro Gattuso of Italy looks on prior to the FIFA World Cup 2026 European Qualifiers KO play-offs match between Italy and Northern Ireland at Stadio di Bergamo on March 26, 2026 in Bergamo, Italy.
(Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images) “It’s going to be a fiery atmosphere, though if we had gone to Cardiff, it would’ve been a similar situation,” said Gattuso in his press conference. “There are a lot of experienced players in the Bosnia team, Wales are very different. Bosnia close up well, rely on their strikers, so it’ll be another very difficult game, much like the one we had tonight.
” It took until the 56 th minute for Italy to break Northern Ireland down with a Sandro Tonali strike from the edge of the area, then the Newcastle United midfielder set up Moise Kean for the second. BERGAMO, ITALY – MARCH 26: Moise Kean of Italy celebrates scoring his team’s second goal during the FIFA World Cup 2026 European Qualifiers KO play-offs match between Italy and Northern Ireland at Stadio di Bergamo on March 26, 2026 in Bergamo, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images) Did the Azzurri feel the pressure of being the favourites a bit too much?
“Aside from the pressure, we also made a mistake in the first half with Locatelli sitting too deep, we ended up with Mancini acting as a full-back, which was not what we had prepared at all,” confessed Gattuso. “We needed to bring their midfielders forward and look for our strikers, but instead we kept passing it down the right for Politano to take his man on, occasionally on the left, but not enough. “Northern Ireland surprised us too, as we expected them to be far more vertical, but they did try to pass it around.