Jorginho admitted his missed penalties in qualifying will haunt him for the rest of his life after Italy failed to reach a second successive World Cup - as Giorgio Chiellini said the European champions were 'destroyed' following their shock play-off defeat to North Macedonia.
Aleksandar Trajkovski's last-gasp goal earned the minnows a famous 1-0 victory and a meeting with Portugal for a place at this year's tournament in Qatar.
Italy dominated the contest and had numerous chances before Trajkovski struck in the 92nd minute.
The defeat will almost certainly spark an inquest in Italy - who also missed the 2018 World Cup in Russia - but Jorginho said he blames himself for his side's failure to reach this year's tournament in Qatar.
The Chelsea midfielder had the chance to give four-time World Cup winners Italy victory over Switzerland which would have put his team on the brink of qualification, but blazed his late spot-kick over the bar in a 1-1 draw in November.
Jorginho also missed a penalty in the 0-0 stalemate between the two sides earlier on in Group C of World Cup qualifying.
'We played good football, we won the European Championship last summer, but unfortunately in the last few games we made small errors and were unable to recover from them. They made the difference,' a tearful Jorginho told RAI Sport.
'It hurts when I think about it, because I do still think about it and it will haunt me for the rest of my life. Stepping up there twice and not being able to help your team and your country is something that I will carry with me forever, and it weighs on me.
'People say we need to lift our heads and carry on, but it's tough.'
Jorginho added that it 'hurts so much' to miss out on yet another World Cup. 'I'll be honest, I am still incredulous,' he said.
'I don't think we lacked creativity, as we always dominated matches and created so many chances. Unfortunately, we were unable to finish them off.'
Chiellini rejected claims Italy had been arrogant in their approach to the match and the defeat had left a 'large void' within the squad.
'We weren't presumptuous,' the veteran defender said. 'We made mistakes from September until today and we paid them. I am proud of this team, it is obvious that we are disappointed and destroyed. We have to start again.
'A large void is now within us and we hope it can give us the strength to go forward in future. I hope it will still be with this coach, who has given so much to the Nazionale.'
Italy boss Roberto Mancini said 'everyone is too disappointed right now' to discuss his future with the national team.
'Just as the Euros was the most wonderful experience of my life, this was the biggest disappointment,' he said. 'We can say nothing, that is football, sometimes incredible things happen and it happened.
'We shouldn't have been here in the first place, but we did everything we could to win and it's hard to even talk about it.
'The victory at the Euros was absolutely deserved, we played great football. Then some of the fortune we had in that tournament turned into total and complete bad luck, as some unbelievable things happened from September onwards.
'We dominated the group, all we needed was one of those moments to go well, but neither of them did. Tonight, it feels almost as if conceding a goal at the 92nd minute was fitting.
'This is a group of fine players and I am sorry for them.'
Chiellini also refused to be drawn on his international future when asked if the match was his last in an Italian shirt.
'I think we need to play the next [game', then we'll see,' Chiellini added.