Ciro Immobile will miss European champions Italy’s key World Cup qualifying clashes with Switzerland and Northern Ireland after being ruled out of the match with a calf injury on Tuesday. Italy coach Roberto Mancini had picked Lazio forward Immobile, who leads the Serie A scoring charts with 10 goals in 11 appearances, for the Azzurri’s final two Group C matches. However, on Tuesday the Italian Football Federation said he would leave the national team camp due to the injury which he had been carrying for the last few days.Another Italy injury. Ciro Immobile out with a calf injury. Unavailable for the decisive World Cup qualifiers. Scamacca in. pic.twitter.com/IOfc2P7Mpc— Adriano Del Monte (@adriandelmonte) November 9, 2021 It’s going to be a big blow for the reigning European champions. Immobile’s form has been at an all-time high recently. His goalscoring exploits led him to become Lazio’s most efficient player of all time with 160 strikes.Mancini, who has called up Sassuolo attacker Gianluca Scamacca in Immobile’s place, is also sweating on the availability of both captain Giorgio Chiellini and Inter Milan midfielder Nicolo Barella, who did not train on Tuesday.Group leaders Italy take to the field at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on Friday level on 14 points with the Swiss with two games remaining in the race to the 2022 tournament in Qatar.WORLD CUP – EUROPEAN QUALIFIERSGroup CFriday22.45: (1.65) Italy (3.70) Switzerland (6.50)22.45: (1.50) N.Ireland (4.20) Lithuania (8.00)***odds are subject to change
