Chelsea star will be "haunted for the rest of his life" by Italy penalty misses

The Italians lost 1-0 to North Macedonia in the World Cup qualifying play-offs on Thursday evening, meaning the current European champions have failed to qualify for their second successive World Cup.

Italy failed to qualify for the tournament automatically after finishing second in Group C and Jorginho is aware that his two penalty misses in the two games against Switzerland could have made all the difference as both of those games were drawn.

In the final standings, the Swiss topped the group, finishing two points ahead of Italy.

Speaking to RAI Sport, Jorginho said, "It is difficult to explain what happened.

"It hurts so much. I'll be honest, I am still incredulous. I don't think we lacked creativity, as we always dominated matches and created so many chances. Unfortunately, we were unable to finish them off.

"We played good football, we won the European Championship last summer, but unfortunately in the last few games we made small errors and were unable to recover from them. They made the difference.

"It hurts when I think about it, because I do still think about it and it will haunt me for the rest of my life.

"Stepping up there twice and not being able to help your team and your country is something that I will carry with me forever, and it weighs on me.

"People say we need to lift our heads and carry on, but it's tough."