Italy flops at Euro 2024, Abodi: “Unconditional surrender”. Malagò: “I thought I was on Candid Camera”

Italy flops at Euro 2024, Euro 2024: Abodi, ‘unconditional surrender, not only sporting but also moral’

“I was in Berlin and so I experienced first-hand the bitterness of a defeat, of an unconditional surrender that was not only sporting but also moral. There was no reaction, there was no flash, a look of those that in sports are seen especially in difficult moments. We need to bring out the moral strength that the blue shirt must inspire and that those who wear it must be able to represent. The game is now over, we have returned home, but the thing that surprised me is the search for other people’s responsibility. I think that in the face of defeat the first factor that must emerge is self-criticism and start again from there. It is too easy to look at other people’s responsibility”. This is what the Minister for Sport and Youth Andrea Abodi said during ‘Non Stop News’ on RTL. “Once again, sport teaches us to take responsibility directly and not to transfer it,” adds Abodi. The players who go on the pitch know this perfectly well, I can’t imagine that they didn’t have the ability to rewind the tape, review the game and understand where they went wrong. By the way, these are not individual and tactical errors, the national team seemed to be morally absent. This must stir up reflections, so that there can be a full stop”.

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Malagò: “Italy at Euro 2024? I thought I was on Candid Camera”

“Faced with the defeat against Switzerland I thought I was in an episode of ‘Scherzi a parte’. I have witnessed defeats, of course. In individual sports it can happen that the tennis player or swimmer on duty on the day of the competition, due to a physical or mental problem, has a terrible performance. But in a team sport, with the possibility of making five substitutions out of eleven, the scene seemed unbelievable to me”, explains the president of CONI Giovanni Malagò to Corriere della Sera.

Spalletti “was honest in admitting he was wrong and that the job of the selector is different from that of the coach. The coach must know how to manage a group based on his own tactical ideas. His resume speaks for itself but it is clear that he has responsibilities.”

Resignation? “Wait a minute. Those who now call for it forget that last year they considered Spalletti the best coach available. But if Luciano now says he is ready to get back in the game to demonstrate that he can achieve better results, who should make the decision to replace him? The federal leaders who are the first to be questioned?”.

In Gravina he said that “he could not prolong this situation over time: the air has become unbreathable. Before this national tragedy, the federal elections should have been held between February and March of next year. Instead, he called them in November, at the first available date. Whoever arrives will take their responsibilities and decide whether to give Spalletti their trust or make other evaluations. Only in this sport does an unwritten law exist. In the event of a defeat, the responsibility lies not only with those who go on the field but also with the managers.”

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