Three uncapped players included in Italy national team squad for World Cup play-offs

Gennaro Gattuso has named his Italy national team squad for the World Cup play-off campaign coming up at the end of March and has included three uncapped players among his selections.

Which uncapped players are in Gattuso’s latest Italy squad?

Gattuso has called up a squad of 28 players for the World Cup play-off semi-final against Northern Ireland in Bergamo coming up on March 26. The winner of that tie will go on to face either Wales or Bosnia and Herzegovina away from home in the play-off final on March 31: A one-match decider for a spot at the final World Cup tournament. 

Given the importance of the occasion, Gattuso has understandably decided to stick with a core of trusted and experienced players.

The likes of Alessandro Bastoni, Riccardo Calafiori, Federico Dimarco, Sandro Tonali and Nicolo Barella are expected to start against Northern Ireland. There has also been a return to the squad for Federico Chiesa for the first time since EURO 2024. 

Only three of the 28 players called up have not previously played for Italy. Two of them are goalkeepers in Marco Carnesecchi and Elia Caprile, neither of whom have yet been given an opportunity over Gianluigi Donnarumma or Guglielmo Vicario. 

Cagliari right-back Marco Palestra, on loan from Atalanta, is the only uncapped outfield player to be selected in the latest Italy squad. The 21-year-old has impressed in his first real breakthrough season at Serie A level, and is also included in the Cagliari starting line-up to take on Napoli on Friday evening. 

You can see follow the action from Cagliari vs. Napoli on the Football Italia Liveblog.