Roberto Mancini left defender Giorgio Chiellini on the bench by accident in Italy's Nations League draw against Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the former Manchester City boss taking the blame for not wearing glasses.
Mancini's side were held 1-1 in their opening League A Group One match, ending a run of 11 successive wins, with Juventus' veteran centre-back Chiellini left out of the starting XI in favour of Lazio's Francesco Acerbi.
Italy won all 10 of their qualifying matches for Euro 2020 as well as a friendly against the United States for the longest winning run in their history which came to an end on Friday night as Edin Dzeko - a former striker for Mancini at City - secured a point for the visitors.
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Speaking after the game, Mancini bizarrely revealed that he left 36-year-old Chiellini on the bench by accident because he was not wearing his glasses and could not read the pre-match team sheet properly.
"It was my fault," Mancini said in a report by Football Italia. "They showed me the line-up, I didn't have my glasses on and just said it was fine. I didn't notice Acerbi was there rather than Chiellini."
The 55-year-old said that Chiellini would now start Italy's Nations League match against the Netherlands on Monday, live on Sky Sports Premier League with kick-off at 7.45pm.
"Anyway, we had planned originally for Acerbi to play one game and Chiellini another," Mancini added. "I had asked Giorgio if he wanted to play today or on Monday with Holland, he said today, but we'll have to swap it now.
"It's not like we chose a goalkeeper rather than a defender, it's not a massive difference, but yes, it was an error."