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Former Scottish international Don Hutchinson has lambasted Italy for their "embarrassing" loss to North Macedonia in the 2022 FIFA World Cup playoffs.
The Azzurri were beaten 1-0 at the death as Aleksandar Trajkovski scored in the 92nd minute to stun the European champions, who missed their bus for a second consecutive time.
When the draws were made, Path C was touted to see an epic clash between them and Portugal in the finals to decide who would go to Qatar.
But the Lions pulled off a monumental upset and just months after making their Euros debut, are dreaming of reaching their first ever World Cup tournament too.
Hutchinson, like almost everyone else, expected the Azzurri to triumph, revealing that they were overwhelming favorites, and then proceeded to slam Mancini and co. for the poor result.
Speaking to ESPN FC, the 50-year-old said:
“It's embarrassing to be honest, I was with a group of ex-professionals commentating on different games tonight. The commentators were talking about different permutations, who was going through, who was going to struggle and we all sat there and thought Italy are absolute bankers to win tonight."
"So you come in and you hear the news that North Macedonia had won, you can't just bury this result, if you're in charge, if you're Mancini or at a board room level, you have to take a step back and you've got to look at this and think this can't happen,” he added.
Italy, who also lost in the playoffs of the 2018 World Cup to Sweden, have failed to qualify for back-to-back editions of the competition for the first time in their history.
What should've been a mouthwatering showdown with Portugal in the finals ended in despair once again for the four-time world champions.
Time to rethink and recalculate for Italy
Italy romped to the Euro 2020 title last year in dominant fashion but have declined since their crowning moment at Wembley.
The side were utterly wasteful in the qualifying games post their championship and were guilty of missing some good chances against North Macedonia too.
Mancini, who successfully guided them to the European championship last year, also faces an uncertain future at the helm after last night's disaster. The Azzurri need to find their mojo back as they face another daunting task of rebuilding yet again.
