Furious Italy fans reject Gianluigi Donnarumma apology after feeble Euro 2024 exit
Gianluigi Donnarumma's apology fell on deaf ears as he attempted to console the angry Italian faithful after their Euro 2024 exit.
The Azzurri, who went into the tournament as defending champions, were well beaten by Switzerland in the last 16. They secured a 2-0 success in Berlin with the Italians struggling to fire a shot as their underwhelming time in Germany came to an end.
Italy only won one of their four games, that coming against Albania, and the country's travelling support were in no mood to accept Donnarumma as he wandered over at the Olympiastadion with his arms aloft, taking responsibility for the nation's early exit.
The PSG goalkeeper was one of the better performers, but as a leading light opted to walk over to the section of the stadium that housed the Italian fans. He was pictured walking away rather sheepishly though as emotions remain high in the German capital.
“We can only apologise to everyone. It really hurts. We disappointed today and Switzerland deserved to win, so there’s nothing else to say,” he told RAI Sport and Sky Sport Italia. “We struggled throughout the match, other than at the end where they sat a bit deeper and we were able to take the initiative, but we really should’ve done it earlier.
“In the first half we lost the ball too easily, we left them too many spaces, we weren’t pressing properly. It was tough, it is a very difficult game to swallow, but this is how it went and we have to accept that.”
Switzerland scored a goal in either half to take control of their last 16 outing with Italy's late push ultimately in vain. Luciano Spalletti's side needed a late goal against Croatia earlier in the week to ensure their progression out of the group stages.
Italy's defence of their title is over
Italy became the third defending European champion in succession to lose in the last 16 after Spain, in 2016, and Portugal, at Euro 2020, also failed to defend their crown.
“It’s true that the goal at the start of the second half knocked the confidence out of us. Even if we were in their half, we were not incisive,” said the Italian boss. “What made the difference was the tempo, we were too slow compared to them in the first half. Even in terms of individuals, there was a different tempo of the movements and the duels.
“Unfortunately, sharpness and tempo makes the difference. Last time I thought perhaps if I gave them time to recover and change a few players, they’d be sharper. At this moment, for too many reasons, we are unable to do more than this right now.”
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