Italian media has responded to their team’s disappointing performance which saw them crash out of Euro 2024.
The knockout stages of the 2024 European Championships kicked off on Saturday night, with defending champions Italy taking on Switzerland, one of the tournament's dark horses.
And the Swiss team lived up to their reputation, securing a decisive 2-0 victory over Italy at Berlin's Olympiastadion.
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The loss means that Italy have failed to reach the quarter-finals of the Euros, their worst finish since 2004.
And Italian media have reacted to the match, offering a brutal assessment of manager Luciano Spaletti.
Italian newspaper La Repubblica wrote: “You can only make carbonara if you have eggs, guanciale, and pecorino. If you only have garlic and a little olive oil, you need to change recipes. But no, he didn’t understand that.”
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While the tone of the comment was in jest, the subject matter was very serious as the paper suggested that Spaletti was not capable of leading the Italian team, who will next play in the Nations League against France in September.
They likened his decisions to the process of making a carbonara, something which Italians often criticise their European neighbours about.
However, despite the poor performance, it has been confirmed that Spaletti will stay on as manager of the Italian national team.
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“We have nothing to hide, but we must continue to take responsibility. There was a long chat with the coach yesterday and I think that it is unthinkable to solve the problems by abandoning a multi-year project after eight to nine months,” confirmed Italian Football Federation president Gabriele Gravina at the beginning of his press conference in Germany.
He continued: “Central to our project is a coach who has been here for nine to 10 months, who has not always had all the players available. Our trust has to work as there is already a new challenge in 60 days’ time.”
Switzerland will discover their quarter-final opponents on Sunday evening, with the winners of England’s match with Slovakia set to meet the Swiss in the next round.
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Topics: Italy, Euro 2024, Switzerland, England, Football
Ben McCrum