“I have no explanation for it at the moment,” said Donnarumma after the game. “Our fans don’t earn this. We have to look at ourselves.”
The keeper who won the Champions League with Paris Saint-Germain made a call to his teammates. “This must come from all of us. We are Italy and these kinds of competitions are unacceptable. We must be more united than we have been.”
Norway gives Italy Pak Rammel in World Cup qualification, Late sacrifice Belgium
Four -time world champion Italy did not qualify for the last two final rounds of the World Cup.
Luciano Spalletti scapegoat in Italian press
In the Italian press, national coach Luciano Spalletti is the scapegoat. “He seems overwhelmed by the circumstances, the enormous pressure and an avalanche of injuries. This must be his end as a national coach. In the chaos of the moment, a radical change on the couch would be a logical step,” writes La Gazzetta Dello Sport.
“A scenario threatens that our World Cup qualification has begun before it really started. Prepare yourself for the umpteenth play-offs trajectory. If we already know how to be second … The performance of Italy was embarrassing and it is completely right to fear the worst. We are weak and extinguished, the newspaper is clear.
Spalletti itself also realizes that it cannot continue like this. “After such an achievement you must of course ask yourself questions and you can only conclude that there are problems. But you have to face them. You can’t do anything else. This is not who we are. We can do more than this individually,” the trainer remains hopeful.