Italy are once again facing a challenging situation in football after their disappointing exit from Euro 2024 at the hands of Switzerland. Their attempt to defend their continental title ended embarrassingly with a lopsided match in Berlin, where Italy previously won the 2006 World Cup.
Luciano Spalletti’s team barely made it through the group stage and suffered a lackluster defeat in the round of 16. This defeat ranks among the lowest points in the history of the four-time world champions and current European titleholders, adding to a series of recent setbacks, including failing to qualify for the last two World Cups.
Italy struggled against Switzerland, particularly in the first half, and after Ruben Vargas’ impressive goal early in the second half, they failed to mount a comeback, ultimately exiting the tournament.
On Italy’s national broadcaster RAI the verdict was swift and brutal: “unacceptable”, “slow and predictable”, said disconsolate commentators.
After the match, Spalletti lamented to RAI how Vargas’ goal “took our legs out from under us” and said that his players didn’t come into the tournament in the right physical condition to compete.
He also suggested that Italy were affected by the heat in Berlin’s Olympiastadion, even though it didn’t stop the Swiss from performing at their best.
“Unfortunately, sharpness and tempo makes the difference,” said Spalletti.
“Right now, for too many reasons, we are unable to do anything more than this.”
It was not a convincing explanation for such disjointed performances over four matches and
Italy were pinned back by the Swiss in the first half and after Ruben Vargas’ brilliant strike seconds after half-time they were easily held at arm’s length as they limped out of the tournament.
On Italy’s national broadcaster RAI the verdict was swift and brutal: “unacceptable”, “slow and predictable”, said disconsolate commentators.
After the match, Spalletti lamented to RAI how Vargas’ goal “took our legs out from under us” and said that his players didn’t come into the tournament in the right physical condition to compete.
He also suggested that Italy were affected by the heat in Berlin’s Olympiastadion, even though it didn’t stop the Swiss from performing at their best.
“Unfortunately, sharpness and tempo makes the difference,” said Spalletti.
“Right now, for too many reasons, we are unable to do anything more than this.”
It was not a convincing explanation for such disjointed performances over four matches and those comments followed a series of bizarre outbursts from Spalletti, who took the Italy job last summer with a huge amount of credit accrued after leading Napoli to a historic Serie A title.
Painful Exit
Italian media are already raising questions about Spalletti’s tenure, given the disappointing performance of his team in Germany and the frequent changes in line-ups and formations. Following Saturday’s match, Spalletti is scheduled to meet with Italy’s football federation on Sunday to “evaluate the situation” before addressing reporters.
However, he declined to discuss his future directly, stating only that “changes are necessary” and alternating between taking responsibility and attributing blame to external factors.
“I take responsibility for what happened, the players are mine, I chose them. I’m not happy with how we played today nor am I happy with how we played against Spain,” said Spalletti.
He added: “All of the other coaches had 20 games in charge, some had 30, before the Euros, I only had 10… We also had a number of players who sustained injuries, players I was counting on.”
Spalletti’s new-look side had come into the tournament as a work in progress and there were promising signs from their opening 2-1 win over Albania.
However, things rapidly went downhill with a single-goal thumping at the hands of Spain, in which goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma kept the score respectable, and it took a 98th-minute equaliser against Croatia to send Italy through.
Captain Donnarumma was Italy’s only real bright spot at what was otherwise a miserable tournament and he was visibly upset at the nature of Italy’s elimination.
“It hurts, it really hurts. We can only say sorry to everyone, we were disappointing today and they deserved to win,” said Donnarumma.
“It’s difficult to digest but that’s how it went, we can’t do anything about it.”
His apologies fell on deaf ears however as angry fans in the stands unloaded their frustration on a team which enters yet another period of transition and soul-searching.
