Spalletti doesn't disagree with ‘tasteless’ metaphor of Italy looking like Fiat Panda in losing to a Swiss Ferrari

Macdara Ferris reports from the Olympiastadion in Berlin

After the European Champions Italy were dumped out of the tournament by Switzerland, the thought was would manager Luciano Spalletti be thrown to the lions by the Italian press post-match? Spalletti had hit back with the media after his team required a late injury time goal to draw in their previous game against Italy.

After the loss in Berlin though, the latin phrase ‘mea culpa’ came to mind as Spalletti accepted responsibility for his team’s defeat. Only the question from a Swiss journalist asking ‘were Italy like a Fiat Panda while Switzerland were a Ferrari?' seemed to get a rise from Spalletti. 

While the Swiss are known for their neutrality, it certainly looked to extratime.com that Italy were stuck in neutral in their Fiat while the Swiss sped away in their Ferrari sportscar.

“You have to accept everything, even a rather tasteless illusions like yours when you lose,” said Spalletti who had his Fiat Panda stolen by Napoli Ultras early in his tenure with the team – before getting the steering wheel returned when they won the Scudetto. 

“You are a wonderful exponent of sarcasm and you are right,” said the 65-year-old manager to the Swiss journalist.

“What more can I say? You (Switzerland) did a better job than us. You are worthy winners and we will try and do better next time as we didn’t really cause you much of an issue tonight.”

Spalletti had been asked about his position as Italian boss right at the start of the post-match press conference. 

“That question is natural. Don’t feel guilty about asking me that question. It comes to the crux of the matter. I have the responsibility for what happened. I picked the players. I’m not happy with our performance tonight or against Spain.

“If we failed, we failed. We failed due to my team selection. It is hard to play football in those conditions,” said Spalletti in reference to a game played out in 29 degree temperatures.

With his team based around Serie A side Inter,  Spalletti felt his Italian team weren’t helped with Inter securing the Scudetto five games from the end of the league campaign and the fact he only had nine months in charge of the Azzurri. 

“It came down to how our league season ended. It looks like you are looking for excuses but we have tried to put on training sessions that have that intensity and have quick recovery runs. 

“All coaches (at the Euros) had 20 matches in charge – I only had ten. We were already under fire – you have to win, you have to win. I probably need to get to know my team better.

"We had injuries to players I was counting on. We were under par and Switzerland are worthy winners.

“The future of the Italian national team is about different choices. We need players with more physicality. We saw in one-v-one duels that we struggled. That makes the difference in winning the ball back. I think they were timid in terms of intensity. I made six changes to have fresh players but the tempo was the same.” 

 He defended his team after their draw against Croatia was derided in the Italian media and the loss to Switzerland. “It was not a scandalous result which is what you are trying to depict.

"When it is put to me produced a scandalous performance against Croatia, I say No. Players were given 4 out of 10 so I had to react. I’m not going to stand by and listen to that. Today we were under par but we made it through the group stages deservedly.” 

Murat Yakin on Swiss win over Italy: ‘We took charge of the game and dominated. Our opponents barely had a shot on goal.' https://t.co/nn0GgmeTh3pic.twitter.com/Jm3EFuHcAu

— extratime.com (@ExtratimeNews) June 30, 2024