Chiellini retires from international football after facing Italy and Argentina
Veteran defender Giorgio Chiellini will bring the curtain down on his international career with the Italian national team next summer after the European champions' Azzurri face South American champions Argentina at Wembley Stadium in London, the stronghold of the greatest victories of his career.
The 37-year-old was one of the main faces in Italy's victory in the European Cup 2020, when he led his country to a dramatic victory over England on penalties at the famous stadium, which will lead on his teammates' grass against Argentina's Lionel Messi on the first of June.
As for Argentina, they won the Copa America by defeating Brazil in the last home game 1-0 in the final.
And 29 years after the last edition of this competition, the idea was revived under a protocol between the European Football Association (UEFA) and the Confederation of South America (CONMEBOL).
The competition was launched in 1985 and the first edition witnessed the victory of France, the European champion the previous year, over Uruguay, then Argentina, led by its late legend Diego Maradona, was crowned in the second edition at the expense of Denmark in 1993 before it stopped.
"I will say goodbye to the national team at Wembley, where I reached the height of my career by winning the European Cup," Chiellini told the broadcasting platform "Dazon" after his team Juventus beat Sassuolo 2-1 in the Italian league on Monday.
"I would like to say goodbye to the Azzurri with a beautiful memory. It will definitely be my last match for Italy."
Chiellini, who played 116 international matches with his country, was hoping to participate in the World Cup again before Zhao said (goodbye) to the fans, but Italy will be absent from the Qatar World Cup 2022, for the second time in a row, which hastened the retirement of the central defender.
Chiellini's career with Italy was full of achievements and disappointments, as he reached the 2012 European Cup final and lost to Spain by a clean four, and faced a difficult time in the World Cup finals.
Italy were eliminated from the group stage in 2010 and 2014, before the historic elimination by Sweden in the World Cup play-off 2018.
Chiellini's career also witnessed a famous incident when he was bitten by Luis Soares when Italy exited the 2014 World Cup behind Uruguay and Costa Rica.
Thus, Roberto Mancini's men now have to wait until at least 2026 to participate in the world football feast after failing to qualify recently by being knocked out of the continental play-off by North Macedonia last month.
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