‘It’s coming Rome though, is it not?’: England fans mock Italy in revenge for their Euro 2020 final defeat… while Gary Lineker describes their failure to qualify for the World Cup as an ‘almighty and devastating fall’
- Italy failed to qualify for a second successive World Cup on Thursday evening
- They were beaten 1-0 at home to North Macedonia in their playoff semi-final
- As a result, they finished second in their group behind unbeaten Switzerland
- Fans have taken to social media to mock the Italian side after their defeat
Fans have taken to social media to poke fun at Italy after they missed out on a second successive World Cup losing 1-0 at home to North Macedonia in their playoff semi-final.
Some fans referred to Italy’s inability to qualify for the World Cup as ‘an incredible disaster’, while Gary Lineker described their omission as an ‘almighty and devastating fall’.
Others sought revenge after the time Italian talisman Leonardo Bonucci goaded England fans by screaming ‘It’s coming Rome!’ into a TV camera in the aftermath of his country’s famous penalty shootout triumph in the Euro 2020 final at Wembley.
Italy failed to qualify for a second successive World Cup on Thursday evening after losing 1-0
The Italian’s were beaten 1-0 at home to North Macedonia in their playoff semi-final (above)
North Macedonia scored in stoppage time to advance to the next stage of the play-offs
Lineker took to Twitter to say: ‘For Italy to go from being European Champions to not even making the final playoff stage is an almighty and devastating fall.’
While transfer expert and Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano added: ‘After missing on Russia 2018, Italy are out of the World Cup 2022. What an incredible disaster.’
Meanwhile fans took to social to highlight the fact Italy have failed to qualify for a second consecutive World Cup. They said: ‘Rickie Lambert played in the last World Cup that Italy qualified for’.
While one social media user hinted at how unpredictable the game can be by saying: ‘Italy missing two World Cups in a row, this sport is truly unbelievable.’
Other decided to take a more comical approach to the result – by sharing memes and gifs at the Italian expense.
Some even referenced the time Italian talisman Leonardo Bonucci goaded England fans by screaming ‘It’s coming Rome!’ into a TV camera in the aftermath of his country’s famous penalty shootout triumph at Wembley.
They said: ‘It’s coming Rome though, is it not?’, while another added: ‘It’s coming Rome… it’s coming Rome… footballs coming Rome…’.
The result comes as a blow to Italy – who failed to qualify for the World Cup four years ago, their first failure to reach football’s global showpiece tournament since 1958.
The European Champions were eager to repeat history. However, Aleksandar Trajkovski had other plans for the Italians as he picked up the loose ball in the 92nd minute, drove at their defence and fired it home from outside the box to make it 1-0.
The North Macedonia bench erupted with joy as the ball touched the back of the net, while the Italian’s dropped to their knees and held their head in their hands.
The result came just eight months after Roberto Mancini’s side beat England at Wembley in the Euro 2020 final.