Acerbi’s refusal makes it unclear who will mark Haaland for Italy in key World Cup qualifier

ROME (AP) — Francesco Acerbi, the defender who was supposed to mark Erling Haaland, turned down the callup to the national team.

The other Inter Milan players are demoralized after getting routed 5-0 by Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final.

Italy’s preparations for a key World Cup qualifier at Norway on Friday have been anything but ideal.

Add in the extra pressure that the Azzurri face after failing to qualify for the last two World Cups and it’s easy to understand why coach Luciano Spalletti says “it won’t be a simple qualifier.”

It’s Italy’s first qualifier and the Azzurri are already trailing group leader Norway, which has a full six points and a plus-seven goal differential after beating Moldova 5-0 and Israel 4-2.

Winning the group is the only way to ensure direct qualification to next year’s tournament in North America. The second-placed team goes into the playoffs, the stage where Italy was eliminated by Sweden and North Macedonia and ruled out of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, respectively.

Haaland scored against Moldova and Israel and recently returned from a left ankle injury that kept him out for all of April.

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Acerbi’s relentless man-to-man lockdown efforts kept Haaland scoreless both in Inter’s Champions League opener at Manchester City in September, which ended 0-0, and the 2023 Champions League final.

But Acerbi informed Spalletti shortly after Saturday’s Champions League final that he was turning down his first callup since March 2024.

Acerbi said on Instagram that he felt disrespected.

“I don’t want to stay where I’m not really wanted and it’s clear that I’m not part of the coach’s plans,” Acerbi wrote.

Alternatives to Acerbi

Since Alessandro Buongiorno, another center back, left Italy’s training camp due to a right thigh injury, and Roma center back Gianluca Mancini was left out of the squad, it’s unclear who will mark Haaland.

One option could be Federico Gatti of Juventus, although Gatti has played only eight minutes since breaking a bone in his left leg in March. Another solution could be Matteo Gabbia of AC Milan. Or Alessandro Bastoni could be moved from left back to central defense in Spalletti’s three-man back line.

Haaland has 40 goals in 41 matches for Norway.

“If they have one very good player, we should have 11,” former Italy coach Arrigo Sacchi said in the Gazzetta dello Sport. “The problem isn’t Haaland, it’s us. We need to play as a team and start interpreting football as a collective effort.”

Italy’s goals came late in a Nations League quarterfinal loss to Germany in March, when Moise Kean scored twice and Giacomo Raspadori converted an injury-time penalty in a 3-3 second-leg draw that eliminated the Azzurri and sent them into a tougher qualifying group.

There was also an embarrassing goal conceded in Germany’s 2-1 first-leg victory, when goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma and the entire Azzurri defense were protesting to the referee.

Donnarumma enters the Norway match on a high, though, after helping PSG to the Champions League trophy.

With Acerbi gone, the remaining Inter players with Italy are Bastoni, Federico Dimarco, Nicolò Barella and Davide Frattesi.

Juventus captain Manuel Locatelli, who had a strong finish to Serie A, also left the training camp injured.

Kean, however, is coming off the best season of his career with 19 goals for Fiorentina.

“Whether we go to the World Cup or not depends a lot on how we play in Norway,” Spalletti said. “The players and I know how important this match is.”

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer