Ireland defender John O’Shea (left) and Italy forward Ciro Immobile go for a high ball during their friendly match at Craven Cottage last night. The game finished 0-0.Ireland defender John O’Shea (left) and Italy forward Ciro Immobile go for a high ball during their friendly match at Craven Cottage last night. The game finished 0-0.

Italy suffered a serious blow ahead of the World Cup when midfielder Riccardo Montolivo broke his leg during a warm-up game against Ireland at Craven Cottage last night.

“It’s what we feared, a fractured tibia. It will probably need some months, Riccardo is out of the World Cup.

“He didn’t deserve this,” team doctor Enrico Castellacci told RAI television.

The elegant Milan midfielder was accidentally caught in a challenge by defender Alex Pearce after 10 minutes and, having stood up to test his leg, went to ground and was carried off on a stretcher after five minutes of treatment on the field.

He was taken to hospital for an X-ray where it was confirmed he had suffered a fractured tibia.

Italy also had to substitute Montolivo’s replacement Alberto Aquilani, who only played for 23 minutes before he went off after taking a knock to the head in a match that finished 0-0.

“The game was marked by the misfortune that Riccardo suffered.

“It’s difficult to talk about the technical things when something like that happens.

“We are all stunned by what happened,” Italy coach Cesare Prandelli told reporters.

Prandelli fielded Fiorentina striker Giuseppe Rossi, who was looking to prove his fitness having recently recovered from a right knee injury, alongside Serie A’s top scorer Ciro Immobile up front. Rossi was replaced by Alessio Cerci 19 minutes from time.

Ireland had looked the more dangerous of the two sides and were unlucky not to go in front in the 78th minute when substitute Stephen Kelly saw his effort beat Italy goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu but hit the crossbar. Sirigu had earlier made some fantastic saves to deny Ireland the lead.

Italy are now winless in their last six games.

The Azzurri take on Luxembourg on Wednesday in their final friendly before travelling to Brazil.

WCup friendlies

Played yesterday
Uruguay vs N. Ireland - 1-0
Chile vs Egypt - 3-2
Croatia vs Mali - 2-1
Norway vs Russia - 1-1
Algeria vs Armenia - 3-1
Netherlands vs Ghana - 1-0
Portugal vs Greece - 0-0
Italy vs Ireland - 0-0
Mexico vs Ecuador - 3-1

Playing today
US vs Turkey - 20.00
Germany vs Cameroon - 20.30
Sweden vs Belgium - 20.30
France vs Paraguay - 21.00

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.