Gianluigi Donnarumma is arguably the second-best goalkeeper in the world right now, behind only Thibaut Courtois. Some people would argue that the Italian is the best. Yet, on March 31 , as Italy battled Bosnia and Herzegovina for the right to be at the 2026 World Cup, Donnarumma could not save them. He was not bad; he just failed to be exceptional when Italy needed him to be.
1. It was an unconvincing kick by the Italian goalkeeper that led to the Bosnia and Herzegovina attack that culminated in Alessandro Bastoni's red card. (More on the defender later.) While Bastoni's mistake will be highlighted, Donnarumma's will most likely escape much attention. But the towering goalkeeper had nowhere to hide when it came to the penalty shootout. Bosnia and Herzegovina scored all four penalties they took, while only the in-form Sandro Tonali found the net for the Azzurri.
It is not fair to criticise a goalkeeper for not saving a penalty, and it may not have mattered even if he had prevented the fourth penalty from squirming in under him. Two Italian kick-takers had missed: the young Pio Esposito blazing over and the experienced Bryan Cristante hitting the bar. Both had tried to score "perfect" penalties. Bosnia and Herzegovina had kept calm and kept it simple. Only their second penalty was truly unsaveable. So, if Donnarumma had been at his best, he could have saved at least two penalties.
The reason he could not do that is because the Italian players were facing something greater than just pressure: it was a desperation to reach the World Cup. But the mistake that cost Italy more than subpar penalty-saving was the kick preceding Bastoni's red card.
Donnarumma, now 27, started playing for the national team at 17. He has never been to a World Cup. However, he at least has the Euro win in 2021 to remember his national team career by. Tonali, 25, has never been at a major tournament with Italy (he was not selected for Euro 2020 and was serving a ban for gambling at the time of Euro 2024).
2. Bastoni, 26, will not play a World Cup match until he is at least 31. He was once dubbed "the next Maldini". In the match against Bosnia and Herzegovina, a 57-year-old Maldini would have been better—once outpaced, he would have been smarter.
There was no need to make a last-ditch tackle towards the end of the first half. Even if Italy had conceded that goal, they could have won the match 11 vs 11. By making a desperate attempt to prevent the goal, Bastoni took away his team's opportunity to compete on even ground. He is still a top-class centre-back, but he will need to take responsibility for the result on the night and move on, while ignoring the abuse and potential death threats that are likely to come his way.
3.While the first two were individual mistakes, the third is a technical one. Tonali was the only Italian player who really looked good in the match. It is inexplicable why he was not the one taking the first high-pressure penalty.
If he had scored, as he did with the second kick, things would have been a lot different. Instead, a 20-year-old striker was tasked with the responsibility. Esposito is no doubt a talented player, but he only made his Italy debut last year. What could he do when the likes of Donnarumma and Bastoni had failed?