There was a short moment in contemporary history on Sunday evening, when Tim Kleindienst was honored to dissuade the great football nation of Italy from faith in itself. “Kimmich by penalty, Musiala on the second – and now small service is also hitting,” was the title Corriere della sera At halftime. Disillusionment spread that the Italian defense, once the pride of an entire football culture, was no longer able to prevent a Bundesliga striker – with all respect for small service – but is not particularly strong. And with everything that should follow afterwards: these doubts remained, even after 90 minutes.
Luciano Spalletti’s team made a very respectable catch -up hunting in the second half of this somewhat crazy 3: 3 from Dortmund, for which she received recognition at home. Only that could not completely cover the embarrassments of the first half, in which the Italians had “slept” for too long, like that Gazzetta Dello Sport wrote.
Above all, the second goal and the quickly executed corner of Kimmich were suitable for the caricature of a Squadra: goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma and his foremen had just gathered into a debate circle in their own penalty area, they were still waving their hands around when the ball was already on the way to Jamal Musiala. “A goal that you shouldn’t get at this level,” said Giovanni di Lorenzo, who was also part of the gathered round in Azurblau. And the Gazzetta Asked to the scene simply asked: “Italy, what are you doing?”
Italian view: penalty against Schlotterbeck was not a clear wrong decision
You would hardly want to imagine the headlines, the second half would not have been completely opposite and Spalletti’s team would not have shown the quality that is fundamentally inherent. After all, the finals of the four halves against Germany dominated the Italians, which significantly improved the overall impression of this Nation League quarter-final-especially because there would have been an opportunity for an extension.
It was also the Lorenzo who made it clear after the game that he was hit on the leg very well in the 76th minute when referee Szymon Marciniak decided on a penalty. The fact that the Pole took it back shortly after a VAR use is understandably seen critically: the former Serie-A referee and today’s expert Luca Marelli, for example, criticized that there was no clear wrong decision, and Marciniak was also not shown the right pictures for viewing.
Apart from the referee debate, however, the game in Dortmund was already in the news on Monday, the focus in Italy is now mainly valid in Italy: the trip to the 2026 World Cup begins in June, instead of a possible Nation League final, the Squadra Azzurra now meets Norway and Erling Haaland, before which is already being warned. A failure at the start of the qualification would be much more serious in the evaluation than gates of small service and embarrassment in the debate group. This also knows that Spalletti, who was not infected in Dortmund from the ups and downs in the opinion of the opinion: “Keep calm”, was his conclusion after a wild evening.
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