Maldini: 'Italy vastly superior to Sweden'

By Football Italia staff

Paolo Maldini “daren’t imagine a World Cup without Italy, as we are vastly superior to Sweden,” but reveals he would love a Federation job.

The Azzurri lost the first leg of their play-off 1-0 to Sweden on Friday and the decider is this evening at San Siro, kicking off at 19.45 GMT.

“I am tense,” he told Sky Sport Italia. “There is too much at stake here. It reminds me of Italy-Portugal in 1993 and I daren’t imagine a World Cup without Italy.

“I was a Nazionale player for 13 years and still feel the emotion of this match. In these situations, you don’t need to say much, as the motivation comes by itself. Being too fired up can be a problem: San Siro fires you up, but can also be intimidating.

“I’ve had teammates who preferred to play away from home, especially if they weren’t accustomed to the stadium.”

Giampiero Ventura said Italy were always heading to the play-offs once they ended up in the same group as Spain and Maldini agrees.

“That was a death sentence really, because Spain are superior right now and proved it in the head-to-head match. There was always the concrete possibility of going into the play-offs.

“Having said that, we did not do well in Sweden. We are vastly superior to them and were unable to counter their only real quality, which is physical strength.

“Italy have to win, I don’t care if it’s 2-0, 3-1 or 4-2.”

The Azzurri are due to maintain the 3-5-2 formation, but with Manolo Gabbiadini, Alessandro Florenzi and Jorginho in for Andrea Belotti, Daniele De Rossi and suspended Marco Verratti.

“I expect a different Italy tonight. There has been a robust generational shift, but also many problems. It has happened before that Italy struggled in qualifying and ended up having a strong World Cup, as we did when my father was the Coach in 1997-98 with a play-off in Russia.

“If things go badly, we’ll have to ask questions. If we go to the World Cup, the current directors should stay on.”

There was talk of Maldini joining the Federation, but like his old club Milan, it never materialised.

“I had a friendly chat with the Federation, but nothing came of it. I never heard anyone again and therefore gave no response. People keep asking me why I am not working in football, but it’s not my choice. I have the option of choosing my future and if there are ideal conditions, I will do, even if my choice will be limited between Milan and the Nazionale.”

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