Gennaro Gattuso has released his starting line-up for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Estonia and it’s a 4-4-2 attacking system, Softfootball reports.
The Azzurri are currently third in Group I on just three points and a minus one goal difference. So, they need to win and score loads of goals against the European minnows inside the Gewiss Stadium.
Manchester City’s new signing and captain of the Italian national team Gianluigi Donnarumma starts in goal and will be protected by a backline consisting of Inter Milan’s Bastoni and Arsenal’s Calafiori.
Gattuso has already informed during his pre-match press conference that a lot is at stake for Italy. The four-time World Cup winners are already nine points behind the leaders in their group and a further dropped points will affect their chances of qualifications.
It firmly explains the reason why he has chosen a very attacking line-up to try score as many as they can and get the required three points against Estonia tonight.
Italy ‘s starting XI was posted via it’s official X handle.
Italy starting lineup: Donnarumma; Di Lorenzo, Bastoni, Calafiori, Dimarco; Barella, Politano, Tonali; Retegui, Kean, Zaccagni
Interestingly, while Italy has won the World Cup four times, Estonia are yet to qualify for the World Cup or a major European competition and they are pushing hard to finish in the top two and qualify for the first time.
The little Baltic nation unexpectedly have lost all six previous meetings against Italy with the most recent result being a 4-0 demolition during a friendly match in November 2020.
Estonia starting lineup: Hein; Schjønning-Larsen, Kuusk, Paskotsi, Saliste; Shein, Kristal; Shein, Kait, Sinyavskiy; Sappinen
Werder Bremen goalkeeper Karl Hein, who is owned by Premier League giants Arsenal will have a busy game and would need his defence led by former Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Maksim Paskotsi to cover solid cover of they are to survive the onslaught from Italy tonight.
