Guest at the Trento Sports Festival, the former national team coach returned to talk about his experience with the Azzurri, which ended with his dismissal after the defeat against Norway: “I made a mistake in clogging up the players, they need to be lighter”. On Italy today: “He will go to the World Cup, Gattuso is good. Remember Vieri”. Then on Acerbi: “The camp had said that he was one of the strongest and I called him up, he accepted and then wrote to me that he had changed his mind”
ITALY TOWARDS THE PLAYOFF: THE SITUATION
The end of the adventure with the National, Italy’s global prospects Gattusothe growth of Pio Esposito and the case Unripe. Al Sports Festival Of Trento l’ex Ct Luciano Spalletti retraces some stages of his career and also talks about his experience on the Azzurri bench, which ended after the 0-3 at home to Norway. “I would have preferred not to make a bad impression in the national team but unfortunately that’s how it went – said Spalletti from the stage in Trento – I made the mistake of transferring too much of this feeling of mine to him, this love of mine for football. Then things happened and I heard some things, I tried to transfer to him my way of experiencing this sport and my profession. And I probably made a mistake there, because I ‘clogged’ them a bit from the point of view of things said and requested, while the players now need to be light-hearted morebecause the pressures are so great. To arrive at the match and hear music inside the locker room. I tried to make him understand that football is a serious thing. I got into his gears and from what came out this didn’t do any good.”
Spalletti: “Italy will go to the World Cup, well done Gattuso”
The former coach also spoke about today’s national team, led by Gattuso. “In my opinion, this Italy has everything. Even though we can choose from a fairly limited number, we have 25 players with which to build a competitive team. Donnarumma is top like Di Lorenzo, Bastoni, Tonali, Barella. Pio Esposito gives you the belief that we will have a master inside the penalty area, a center forward with these technical qualities, this sensitivity, last night he scored a crazy goal for his coordination and for the way he kicked the ball. Maybe Bobo (Vieri, nrd) was something like that, whatever stuff you threw at him he’d give it back to you clean and tidy, and Pio the same. I saw him play many times last year at La Spezia. Italy is going to the World Cup. Sure he’s going. Because the players are strong, because Gattuso immediately found the right situation by making these two strikers play where it was necessary. He was very goodhe won against Israel. He has solutions. This national team has the possibility of becoming strong.”
Spalletti: “Acerbi was one of the strongest but then…”
“There are more and more people who find excuses or reasons for not fulfilling their commitments and not taking on important responsibilities – said Spalletti, returning to the case Unripewho had been previously called up for the decisive match against Norway but who then decided not to respond to the national team’s call – Fewer and fewer are those who put their face to it. In this case there had been the possibility of telling me those things that he told me now. There is a pre-call two weeks before, you join, then the day before the call I call you and tell you: ‘Look, you were right’. The camp had said it was one of the strongest, and it is still one of the strongest, there was the Champions League semi-final against Barcelona. Previously I had thought of doing this to give strength to a younger group, to give them a push from a personality and tranquility point of view. Then the pitch said that ‘you are still a leader and I had thought about calling you up for a key match.’ Then at that moment Gatti, Buongiorno and Gabbia were injured and between him and Mancini I had chosen him. When I phoned him, calling him several times, I told him: ‘Look, I’ll summon you’ and he told me if he says that to me then I’ll come. Then after the Champions League final, three or four days before the match, he sent me a message and said ‘I thought about it carefully, I’m not coming anymore’. So I sent him a message and called him and he brought up the Juan Jesus situation (the accusation of racism during Inter-Napoli, ed.). If he’s happy like this, I’m happy for him. But things happened differently from what he says.”
