- Italy played Northern Ireland in their World Cup qualifying semi-final
- Gianluigi Donnarumma captained his country
- He kept a clean sheet
Gianluigi Donnarumma has helped Italy move closer to World Cup qualification after an impressive display on Tuesday night.
Italy were the favourites to defeat Northern Ireland, but their supporters will remember them failing to qualify for the 2022 World Cup all too well – a reminder that anything can happen.
Well, there was no upset on Thursday night, as Gennaro Gattuso’s team scored two second half goals to win the match. One of these was scored by Sandro Tonali, who has recently been linked with Man City.
City did have representation in the starting lineup, as Gianluigi Donnarumma played in goal. This was the 27 year old’s first appearance since the Champions League second leg defeat to Real Madrid.
Gianluigi Donnarumma keeps a clean sheet for Italy
Donnarumma stood tall as Italy defeated Northern Ireland 2-0, keeping a clean sheet during the match in Bergamo.
However, the Italian only actually had to make once save across the 90 minutes, while he prevented 0.11 goals. Still, Donnarumma did make nine recoveries, so it was not like he was static all night long.
He was not the only Man City player on international duty, with Rayan Cherki included in France’s squad to face Brazil. Unfortunately, the winger failed to make an appearance off the bench.
Donnarumma will face Bosnia and Herzegovina for a spot at the World Cup
Italy are now just one victory away from reaching the World Cup group stage and they will face Bosnia and Herzegovina on Tuesday night.
The Balkan nation scraped past Wales on a penalty shootout to set up a meeting with Donnarumma and his team.
Once that fixture is out of the way, Donnarumma will need to turn his focus back to Man City, with an FA Cup quarter-final clash against Liverpool taking place just days later.
