Giorgio Chiellini
Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini has made 116 appearances for Italy

Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini will retire from international football after the European champions’ friendly against Argentina at Wembley in June.

The 37-year-old has made 116 appearances, but was part of the squad that failed to quality for this year’s World Cup in Qatar.

“I’ll say goodbye to the national team at Wembley,” Chiellini told DAZN after Juventus’ 2-1 win at Sassuolo.

“Where I experienced the pinnacle of my career winning the Euros.”

Chiellini, who made his Italy debut in 2004, was a key figure in the team that beat England on penalties in last summer’s European Championship final.

“I’d like to say goodbye to the Azzurri with a nice memory. That will certainly be my last game with Italy,” he added.

Chiellini, also a Euros runner-up in 2012, is joint fifth in the list of Italy’s most-capped players alongside Andrea Pirlo. Only Daniele de Rossi, Paolo Maldini, Fabio Cannavaro and Gianluigi Buffon have made more appearances.

The veteran centre-back, who came on as a substitute for fourth-placed Juventus in Monday’s win, has not decided whether to prolong his club career beyond this season, however.

“My love affair with Juventus is not ending, it will never end,” said Chiellini. “Of course, from now to the end of the season I do have to evaluate everything, talk to my family about what is best.

“Let’s reach fourth place [in Serie A] first and win the Coppa Italia, then we’ll sit down with my two families – at home and Juventus – to figure out what is best for everyone.

“It was the same last summer, I took time and didn’t sign the new contract until after the Euros. At my age, you can’t look too far into the long-term, but that’s only natural, it’s all fine.”