Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini to retire from international football

MILAN: Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini will retire from international football after the European champion plays a friendly against its South American counterpart Argentina at Wembley in June.

Italy's failure to qualify for this year's World Cup in Qatar seems to have hastened the 37-year-old Juventus defender's decision, with the Argentina match in London, where the Azzurri won the European Championship last July, to be his last.

"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 after Juventus' 2-1 win at Sassuolo in Serie A on Monday.

"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 all-time Italy charts alongside Andrea Pirlo, with only Daniele De Rossi, Paolo Maldini, Fabio Cannavaro and Gianluigi Buffon ahead of him. IANS

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