Leonardo Bonucci says he has no doubt Italy will recover from their 2022 World Cup qualifying humiliation to be a major power once again.

He pointed out that he is full of confidence on this because they produced a similar response not so long ago.

Italy were incredibly defeated 1-0 by North Macedonia in Thursday’s Qatar 2022 qualifying play-off semi-final, with Aleksandar Trajkovski’s stoppage-time winner stunning world football.

It marked a monumental change in fortunes from last year when a largely unfancied Italy side won Euro 2020.

That was seen as a huge achievement given their absence from Russia 2018.

As such, this will be the first time in World Cup history Italy have missed consecutive tournaments.

Their failure to reach the 2018 edition instigating something of a rebuild of the senior set-up.

Manager Roberto Mancini has seemingly escaped much of the criticism.

Many fans are of the opinion he overachieved significantly when guiding them to European Championship success last year.

Now Bonucci appears to be confident Italy will respond swiftly and efficiently.

Bonucci, who missed Thursday’s defeat due to injury, wrote on Instagram: “The two emotions are at opposite ends.

“The great euphoria and joy of the summer are clearly contrasted with the disappointment and bitterness of this exclusion, exacerbated even more by not being able to help my team-mates for those 90 minutes.

“Now is the time to look ahead. Last summer we took the credit and praise for having done something unique.

“Today, we must take responsibility for not having earned the passage for our own demerits, more than for the merits of others.

“It is time for concrete and in-depth analysis to start over, to give Italy and the Italians what they deserve.

“We have done this before. And the climb has already begun, for me, for us.

“It will be hard to get back to the top, but we have already shown that we know how to get there. The future is now!”

(dpa/NAN)