GENNARO: I'VE GATT NERVES..

ITALY coach Gennaro Gattuso acknowledges only “someone without blood running through their veins” would not be nervous as the Azzurri bid to avoid failing to qualify for a third consecutive World Cup.

- BY ANDREW DAMPF

Ahead of Thursday's playoff against Northern Ireland, Gattuso - who is still just as feisty and gritty as when he played on the Italy team that won the country’s fourth World Cup in 2006 - also suggested that he sent home winger Federico Chiesa (above).

“It's undeniable there's nervousness,” Gattuso (right) said yesterday. “Only someone without blood running through their veins wouldn't feel it. But we need to do a good job of transmitting a lot of positivity.”

Positivity, however, is not what describes Italy's performances in the playoffs for the last two World Cups, when they were eliminated by Sweden and North Macedonia respectively.