Pellegrini Crossed Out Because Of The Red Card, Italian Coach Pangggil Nicolo Zaniolo

Midfielder Nicolo Zaniolo has again received a call from the Italian national team. (X/@Azzurri)

JAKARTA - Italy coach Luciano Spalletti immediately called midfielder Nicolo Zaniolo to replace Lorenzo Pellegrini. This ridiculous blunder by AS Roma captain made two red cards in the match against Belgium in the UEFA Nations League which ended in a 2-2 draw.

Spalletti looked disappointed with Pellegrini's red card for failing Italy to win third in the Nations League. Spalletti also asked Zaniolo to rejoin when Italy played their next match in the Nations League against Israel which was held at the Bluenergy Stadium, Tuesday, October 15, 2024 in the morning WIB.

Zaniolo replaces Pellegrini who is definitely absent from facing Israel. The player who was borrowed by Atalanta from Galatasaray showed quite good performance when he returned to the Italian League. Zaniolo contributed one assist during five games with La Dea.

Interestingly, Zaniolo is actually not a new face in the national team. However, the 25-year-old players are indeed unable to compete in the Italian squad. Moreover, Zaniolo's performance was not consistent even though he recently showed a slick performance in

Zaniolo, who made his senior national team debut in March 2019, was actually once said to be a talented young star who would skyrocket. But he did have more bad luck because he always failed to appear in big tournaments due to serious injuries.

The former AS Roma midfielder's career had faded when he suffered an ACL injury which made Zaniolo rest for a long time. As a result, he had to forget about Euro 2020. More ironically, Zaniolo actually played a big role in passing Gli Azzurri to the final which then emerged as champions after defeating England in the shootout drama.

At the 2022 World Cup, Zaniolo is fit and can appear in major tournaments. But again, Italy failed to qualify for Qatar so players who had scored two goals during their 19 appearances in the national team had to forget their dream of playing in the World Cup.

Zaniolo, who has played at Aston Villa, is actually again likely to appear in a major tournament by defending Italy at Euro 2024. Again unlucky. Towards the end of the competition, he was seriously injured again.

This time, Zaniolo suffered a metatarsal injury or broken bones on his toe which took a long time to recover. He was again absent from the European Cup which was held in Germany.

Spalletti did not call him when Italy played two Nations League matches. However, Zaniolo then replaced Pellegrini who received a red card in the match against Belgium at the Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Friday, October 11, 2024 in the morning WIB.

Although he doesn't blame the players, Spalletti looks disappointed with Pellegrini's red card. How not, Italy was already 2-0 up and showed a good game before finally losing a player.

Belgium took advantage of the advantage of facing a opponent who played with 10 people. And, just two minutes later, they were able to score which changed the score to 2-1. Furthermore, front player Leandro Trossard canceled Italy's victory after equalizing the score to 2-2 in the second half.

"There are several episodes that change the game," Spalletti pointed to Pellegrini's red card.

"It was a very bad result. We did our best for the first 40 minutes until finally someone got a red card and this resulted in a big change," said Andrea Cambiaso, who scored in the first minute of the match.

Pellegrini is the target of disappointing results in home games. He is even threatened with not being included in the squad anymore. Moreover, Zaniolo can be relied on by Spalletti. In addition, Federico Chiesa has the opportunity to return to the national team.