Soccer-Italian media fume at Euros exit, Spalletti grasps for excuses

Soccer Football - Euro 2024 - Round of 16 - Switzerland v Italy - Berlin Olympiastadion, Berlin, Germany - June 29, 2024 Italy coach Luciano Spalletti looks dejected after the match REUTERS/Annegret Hilse

By Trevor Stynes

LEIPZIG, Germany (Reuters) - Italy's media lambasted the country's soccer squad over their elimination from Euro 2024 at the hands of Switzerland on Saturday, while manager Luciano Spalletti threw out a host of bizarre excuses for his side's downfall.

Soccer Football - Euro 2024 - Round of 16 - Switzerland v Italy - Berlin Olympiastadion, Berlin, Germany - June 29, 2024 Italy coach Luciano Spalletti and Mattia Zaccagni look dejected as they shake hands after the match REUTERS/Angelika Warmuth

Switzerland had little trouble in dismissing the defending champions 2-0 in Berlin, a last-16 exit seen as embarrassing in the Italian press on Sunday.

"A Shame" read the headline in Corriere dello Sport, as they described a side incapable of football, while Gazzetta dello Sport said "everything to be redone" depicting an embarrassing performance with Italy eliminated and humiliated.

Spalletti said he bore responsibility for their demise, but while he may have some justification in saying he hasn't had enough time with the team, some of his other excuses were harder to understand.

Speaking on Italian television, Spalletti again mentioned his players' physical condition and tiredness, while the Swiss made only one change compared with his six from the previous game.

Even more confusing was his mention of the heat as a factor. When he reiterated his point about a lack of freshness, former England manager Fabio Capello had a sharp response live on air.

"Why can't we play at the pace of the others and when we have the ball we lose it immediately?" Capello queried.

"Is it a lack of speed, the ball always travels slowly, or is it a matter of technique? We lost to Switzerland, not Brazil."

Perhaps Spalletti's most bizarre excuse was his claim that Inter Milan, who supplied five members of the squad, won the Serie A title too early last season.

"Simone Inzaghi kept training the team in a certain way, because I was in touch with how often Inter were training and so on," he said. "But perhaps ... unconsciously you're not as applied once you've won the league so early."

Two of Italy's three goals in Germany came from Inter players, Nicolo Barella and Alessandro Bastoni, while other Inter players at the tournament have also impressed such as Turkey's Hakan Calhanoglu.

Italy's captain Gianluigi Donnarumma apologised to the fans, although the keeper was their best player of the Euros.

"It hurts to go out like this, we apologise to everyone. Today we disappointed, they deserved it," Donnarumma said.

"We lacked a bit of everything in this game, including quality, and in the first half we did very badly because they always had the ball in the game."

Defender Matteo Darmian was another who spoke honestly about the disappointment.

"There was the desire and the possibility to do better. Unfortunately we did not succeed and it is right to take responsibility and show our faces," Darmian said.

Spalletti had clashed with journalists at the tournament, and his post-match news conference ended with the Italian coach taking offence at a Swiss reporter comparing Switzerland to a Ferrari and Italy to a Fiat Panda.

"You have to accept everything, even rather tasteless illusions like yours," Spalletti said.

"When you lose, you accept everything. You're clearly a wonderful exponent of sarcasm. And you're right. What more can we say? You did a better job than us."

(Reporting by Trevor Stynes; Editing by Hugh Lawson)