Mancini's Italy gets snared by Bulgaria

Only one shot on target and a goal: Bulgaria made the most of their only chance against Italy and are grateful for the prestigious draw against the European champions.

In the qualifiers for the Qatar 2022 World Cup, Italy is stopped at 1-1 by the selection of Petrov, a result that cannot satisfy the men of Mancini and that 'stains' the page of history written with the thirty-fifth consecutive match without defeat, a record now shared only with Brazil (1993-96) and Spain (2007-09).

The 'Franchi' in Florence returns to applaud Federico Chiesa in the 16th minute for the goal that opened the scoring: one-two in the tight with Property and low to the ground, leaving no escape route George. Italy dominates and presses high in Bulgaria's half but fails to capitalise on their superiority and in the 40th minute comes the cold shower: Despodov wins the duel with Florenzi, on his cross Atanas Iliev makes no mistake a few steps away Donnarumma and, unexpectedly, brings the match back to parity. The script of the match does not change, indeed Bulgaria further exacerbates the wait-and-see attitude close to their penalty area.

[the_ad_group id = ”289023 ″]

[the_ad_group id = ”289025 ″]

In the second half, the Azzurri continued to maintain possession of the ball in Petrov's team's half, without managing to breach the goal defended by Georgiev. In the 63rd minute, a double substitution for Mancini: in Toloi and Cristante, Florenzi and Barella out. Nothing changes and 10 minutes later there are more changes with Berardi replacing Insigne and Breakers for Immobile. At 90′ there was also space for Pellegrini, out Emerson.

YOU MAY ALSO BE INTERESTED IN: Meret injury, Napoli takes action to get Ospina back sooner

With this result, Mancini's team leads Group C with 10 points (3 wins and a draw) ahead of Switzerland (6 points) and equals the streak of 35 consecutive useful matches of Spain and Brazil. On Sunday, in Basel with Switzerland, the Azzurri will be able to set a new record.