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Giorgio Chiellini will retire from international football after the European champions play a friendly against Argentina at Wembley in June.
Italy’s inability to meet all requirements during the current year’s World Cup in Qatar appears to have rushed the 37-year-old Juventus defender’s choice, with the Argentina match in London, where the Azzurri brought home the European Championship last July, to be his final.
“I’ll say goodbye to the national team at Wembley, which is where I experienced the pinnacle of my career winning the Euros,” Chiellini told DAZN.
“I’d like to say goodbye to the Azzurri with a nice memory. That will certainly be my last game with Italy.”
With 116 appearances for the national team, Chiellini is joint fifth in the record-breaking Italy graphs close by Andrea Pirlo, with just Daniele De Rossi, Paolo Maldini, Fabio Cannavaro and Gianluigi Buffon in front of him.
“My love affair with Juventus is not ending, it will never end,. Of course, from now to the end of the season I do have to evaluate everything, talk to my family about what is best. Let’s reach fourth place first and win the Coppa Italia, then we’ll sit down with my two families – at home and Juventus – to figure out what is best for everyone,” he added.
“It was the same last summer, I took time and didn’t sign the new contract until after the Euros. At my age, you can’t look too far into the long-term, but that’s only natural, it’s all fine.”
Juve are fourth, eight points clear of fifth-set AS Roma, with four matches staying in the race for a Champions League spot. They face Inter Milan in the Coppa Italia final on May 11.
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