EM 2024 round of 16 - "Neither heart nor legs": Italy's press angry about their Azzurri's European Championship exit
It is a curse. Italy's title defender sees no light in the round of 16 match against Switzerland and rightfully goes home. A disappointing performance. The Squadra Azzurra played this poorly last time only 20 years ago, when the team didn't even make it through the group stage.
The former national coach Fabio Capello made a devastating judgment after the game. There was no quality present, Fabioli stood there like a fish out of water. And he was not the only one who had no good hair on the team. The Italian press shows no mercy.
Italy's World Cup exit: "Worst team in history"
Gazzetta dello Sport wrote that Italy had "in the worst possible way" been eliminated from the tournament. Italy had lost face, Switzerland had dominated the game. "The Azzurri didn't understand anything," the paper summarized, attributing the team a failure in its entirety – "physically, tactically, and psychologically."
According to Corriere dello Sport, the Italians were lacking something else on the field. They had "neither heart nor legs." The team had played "weakly and passively" and thus deservedly lost against a "mediocre team."
Italy shows itself "passive and fearful"
Not only in Italy were people wondering about Luciano Spalletti's strategy. Michael Ballack, once captain of the DFB, could not explain what the plan was. "That was fearful and passive. That was certainly one of the weakest halves in this tournament," he judged during the halftime break at RTL.
What the Squadra had delivered at the Berlin Olympic Stadium was, according to Corriere della Sera, a "heavy blunder." Tuttosport writes of an "Italian catastrophe." The team may have been the worst in history at a major event.
Despite the criticism, Fabio Capello believes the Italy national soccer team's performance in the Round of 16 match against Switzerland at the European Championship was reminiscent of their disappointing showing 20 years ago during the group stage of the tournament. Even the Azzurri's famed supporters, Italy, couldn't escape criticism, with some media outlets labeling their performance as one of the worst in history, akin to that against Switzerland two decades ago. In contrast, Switzerland seemed to thrive, reaching the final of the European Championship and putting Italy's title defense to an end.
