{"id":99614,"date":"2025-10-06T15:37:04","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T15:37:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/italy-coach-gattuso-calls-up-spinazzola-following-politano-injury-the-express-tribune\/"},"modified":"2025-10-06T15:37:04","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T15:37:04","slug":"italy-coach-gattuso-calls-up-spinazzola-following-politano-injury-the-express-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/italy-coach-gattuso-calls-up-spinazzola-following-politano-injury-the-express-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"Italy coach Gattuso calls up Spinazzola following Politano injury | The Express Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n MILAN: <\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Italy coach Gennaro Gattuso called up Leonardo Spinazzola for upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Estonia and Israel after his Napoli teammate Matteo Politano picked up a hamstring injury on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Attacker Politano was forced to leave the field in the 50th minute of Napoli’s 2-1 win over Genoa on Sunday, when he was also replaced by Spinazzola.<\/p>\n

Napoli coach Antonio Conte later confirmed a hamstring knock but neither he nor Napoli said for how long Politano would be out of action.<\/p>\n

Spinazzola, who starred in Italy’s Euro 2020 triumph before rupturing his Achilles tendon, has not played international football since June 2023.<\/p>\n

The Azzurri face Estonia on Saturday night before hosting Israel in Udine, a match which will be prefaced by protests due to Israel’s continued offensive in the Gaza Strip which has led to mass demonstrations in Italy.<\/p>\n

Italy, who failed to qualify for the last two World Cups, sit second in Group I, six points behind leaders Norway with a game in hand.<\/p>\n

Only top spot in the group gives direct qualification to next summer’s finals in the USA, Mexico and Canada.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MILAN: Italy coach Gennaro Gattuso called up Leonardo Spinazzola for upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Estonia and Israel after his Napoli teammate Matteo Politano picked up a hamstring injury on Sunday. Attacker Politano was forced to leave the field in the 50th minute of Napoli’s 2-1 win over Genoa on Sunday, when he was also […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":99615,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.tribune.com.pk\/media\/images\/afp1759750965-0\/afp1759750965-0-640x480.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t