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Italy’s World Cup plans were hit on Saturday when accomplished midfielder Riccardo Montolivo broke his leg during their penultimate warm-up game against Ireland at Craven Cottage which ended in a 0-0 draw. |
The incident, following an accidental collision with Ireland defender Alex Pearce, overshadowed the rest of the match, which was a lively attacking affair, and left the Italy squad stunned by what had happened to their team mate.
“It’s what we feared, a fractured tibia. It will probably need some months, Riccardo is out of the World Cup. He didn’t deserve this,” team doctor Enrico Castellacci told Rai TV.
Italy coach Cesare Prandelli told reporters the whole squad were shocked and devastated by the injury to their captain on the night who was winning his 58th cap. “All our thoughts are with Riccardo and we will have to wait till tomorrow to make a rational assessment of the situation. We fly back to Florence tomorrow but he will fly back to Milan and undergo surgery.
“We will have to sit down and assess the condition of all the players in the squad. The impact of what happened affected everyone tonight. He is a key player, a reference point on and off the pitch with a great attitude. He did not deserve this and everyone is just totally shocked and upset.”
The incident came after 10 minutes and Montolivo, having stood up to test his leg, went to ground. He was treated for more than five minutes before being carried off on a stretcher and taken to hospital for an X-ray where it was confirmed he had suffered a fractured tibia.
Italy also had to substitute Montolivo’s replacement Alberto Aquilani, who only played for 23 minutes before a knock to the head, but an Italian FA spokesman said his MRI scan was negative as far as any serious injury was concerned.
Prandelli fielded a team full of hopefuls and fringe players challenging for a place in his final 23-man squad for next month;s finals in Brazil and most gave a good account of themselves in a game full of chances for both sides.
But he said he did not particularly want to analyse or talk about the performance following what had happened. “I will think about it in detail tomorrow, I am more concerned with Riccardo right now,” he said.
Anyone watching from the England camp might not have learned too much about their Group D opponents, with the likes of veteran playmaker Andrea Pirlo among others left out of what was little more than a training game for the Italians.
But 21-year-old midfielder Marco Verratti could not have done more to play himself into the squad with an excellent industrious performance while Ciro Immobile, who is expected to complete a 15 million euros ($20.47 million) move from Torino to Borussia Dortmund next week, also had a good game.
Immobile had the ball in the net after 55 minutes but the effort was ruled out because he was marginally offside when he connected with Marco Parolo’s cross.
Ireland, building towards the Euro 2016 qualifiers after failing to make the World Cup, played well and continually put goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu under pressure with Shane Long, twice, and Wes Hoolahan forcing him into saves.
The most pressing matter now facing Ireland boss Martin O’Neill is whether his assistant Roy Keane leaves the job to become manager of Scottish champions Celtic, a move expected to be finalised next week. O’Neill told reporters, “I did not talk to him about it today as we were concentrating on the game and I expect the situation to be resolved by Wednesday.
“It was a very competitive game from start to finish tonight and I thought we played very, very well against a good side.”
Italy continue their World Cup preparations with a friendly in Verona against Luxembourg on Wednesday before leaving for Brazil where they face fellow former World Cup winners Uruguay and England as well as Costa Rica in the opening stage.