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ACCORDING to Italy boss Luciano Spalletti, there should be no excuses for the Azzurri’s miserable Euros exit as reigning champions.
Well, except for a few.
Italy boss Luciano Spalletti bizarrely blamed a list of items for their last 16 exit[/caption]
In the wake of the Italians’ 2-0 defeat to Switzerland in the last 16 at the Olympiastadion on Saturday night, Spalletti was at his contradictory, confusing best.
Having started his post-match press conference in the honourable way by suggesting the blame lays at his door – no one else – he then proceeded to wildly throw verbal punches.
The Italian FA, the local media, the fans, the players and even Serie A champions Inter Milan were all in the firing line in yet another bizarre Spalletti outburst.
Spalletti’s 26-man squad included five players from Inter – Federico Dimarco, Matteo Darmian, Alessandro Bastoni, Davide Frattesi and Nicolo Barella – three of which started against the Swiss.
He said: “It all began with how [Serie A] ended.
“Inter Milan won the title [with five games to spare] and I made sure they were still being professional. The manager Simone Inzaghi kept training them in a certain way because I was in touch with him often.
“But perhaps you are not as applied once you win the league so early.”
Spalletti was appointed on September 1, 2023 after taking over from Roberto Mancini – the man who guided the country to the Euros title at Wembley against England in July 2021.
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His first match in charge against North Macedonia in their Euro 2024 qualification campaign eight days later ended in a shock 1-1 draw.
Spalletti had nine more games before Italy’s Euros opener against Albania on June 15 – ultimately scraping into the tournament, qualifying behind group leaders England.
Progression into the last 16 in Germany was only confirmed after a 98th minute equaliser against Croatia in their Group B finale, following a 2-1 over Albania and a 3-0 humbling versus Spain.
He continued: “All the other coaches of Italy had 20 or 30 matches before a major tournament, but I had 10, and we were under fire to win.
“That’s only right but I probably need to get to know my team a bit better. We have had a number of players with injuries who I was also counting on.”
He is referencing two defenders – Atalanta’s Giorgio Scalvini and Tottenham’s Desinty Udogie – who suffered injuries requiring surgery in the weeks before the Euros.
But again, Spalletti – the coach who made SIX changes for the Swiss shambles, with only two enforced – took the blame… sort of.
He continued: “We didn’t have a team that’s defined in terms of fundamentals we can actually build upon. We don’t have quick defenders and we need players with more physicality and intensity.
“I didn’t change the team earlier in the tournament because people were breathing down my neck, but I was forced to test things out.”
The ramblings of a man who knows his job is under major scrutiny, regardless of the Italian FA recently backing him to lead Italy into the Nations League later this year before qualification for the 2026 World Cup.
That is when Spalletti’s contract is up.
Whether he makes it that far is anyone’s guess, having erupted at the local press following the 1-1 draw with the Croats over a potential mole in the camp leaking information that he was tactically inept.
For now, Italian FA head Gabriele Gravina said: “Spalletti has our trust, he must have our trust. He must get to work.”
The press conference in Berlin finally ended in a rather comical yet sinister-sounding fashion, Spalletti taking the name and organisation of a Swiss reporter who asked if Italy were more like a Fiat Panda compared to the Swiss Ferrari.
Spalletti replied: “You have to accept everything when you lose, even rather tasteless illusions like that. You’re clearly a wonderful exponent of sarcasm.”
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