Italy still have a mountain to climb with Bosnia and Herzegovina standing between the Azzurri and the World Cup finals.
Italy beat Northern Ireland 2-0 to reach the qualifying play-off final, which they will have to play away from home against the Bosnians.
Italy haven’t been to a World Cup finals since being dumped out in the group stage in 2014 and the possibility of a third straight absence weighed heavily on players, coach and fans.
Gattuso: Italy must climb ‘Everest’ in World Cup play-off final vs Bosnia
Gattuso: Climbing the Mountain After Northern Ireland Win
“We’ve taken a little step forward, now we have to climb the mountain, the Everest,” said Gattuso.
“We know that there’s a lot at stake, I think everyone had some butterflies today and that’s understandable. I had them, Gigi Buffon has them, we all did.”
Italy battled past Northern Ireland but didn’t shine against a team which was largely made up of lower league players. Sandro Tonali and Moise Kean’s goals were two rare moments of quality in Bergamo.
Focus on Victory Over Performance
“Today the top priority was to win… I wasn’t interested in the performance today, just as I’m not interested in the performance in Bosnia,” added Gattuso.
“All we had to do was be aware of the danger and what we’d been missing for a very long time. And I think we did that very well.”
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