Italy whimpered out of UEFA Euro 2024 at the Olympiastadion in Berlin against Switzerland, a place that is all too familiar with the Azzurri as it is the place of their 2006 World Cup triumph, but now also the scene of one of the worst Italian performances in recent years, with questions being raised at the players but primarily at manager Luciano Spalletti.
Italy's Tournament Overview
Italy were drawn into what was considered this tournament's "Group Of Death" with the likes of fellow heavy-hitters Spain and Croatia as well as underdogs in Albania, who they would face in their first group game. Within 23 seconds of the match getting underway Italy would help create history for the Albanians due to a defensive mistake which would lead to Italy conceding the fastest goal in European Championship history, that shell shocked the Azzurri into gear and would go on to score two goals within a five minute spell to take the lead and ultimately all three points from their first game.
Italy's second game would come against Spain, a well-known opponent who they are very familiar with, having played each other in the previous Euro semi-final, which saw Italy win on penalties; however, at this tournament, Spain has been miles better than the last tournament, and it showed with a 3-0 thrashing of Croatia in their first game. They continued their momentum against Italy and didn't allow them to play efficiently, which ultimately led to Italy's Ricardo Calafiori's scoring an unlucky own goal, which would be the only goal of the game and turn their third game against Croatia into a crucial match and piled more unneeded pressure on to the Azzurri.
After this unfortunate result against Spain, Italy travelled to Leipzig for their last group game of the tournament against an equally needy Croatian team that needed a win to advance to the knockout stages.
Italy's third game would be very close between the two sides, with Croatia creating much of the pressure and creating many of the chances in the game and ultimately being awarded a penalty due to a handball, which saw Luka Modric step up to the spot and looked likely to take the lead. Still, it would be saved by Gianluigi Donnaruma to keep the Italians in it. The pressure would be put back on the Italians shortly after though, and Modric would put Croatia in front, sending most of the stadium into wild celebrations.
This goal gave Croatians all of the momentum, and the Italian players and fans in the stadium seemed to fall flat as they seemed to believe their fate was sealed. When the time clicked over to the 8th minute of added time, it would take Ricardo Calafiori to make a darting run and managed to find Mattia Zaccagni, who channelled his inner Del Piero, scoring a goal similar to the icon's World Cup semi-final goal and send the outnumbered Italian fans into wild celebrations as due to Spain winning, Italy only needed a draw to advance to the next round, crushing the dream of seeing Luka Modric play his last tournament in the knockout stages.
Italy would face Switzerland in the round of 16 in Berlin, at the sight of their 2006 World Cup triumph; however, it would be an evening to shortly forget with six changes coming to the starting lineup, some forced, such as Calafiori and Di Marco but despite reasons for change Italy looked flat and as if it was the first time the players had played together which allowed Switzerland to sit in the Italian half and create unnecessary pressure which eventually lead to their first goal.
The score would stay 1-0 until the second half, as the kickoff would give the ball back to Switzerland and lead them on a dangerous counterattack, which would lead to an impressive Ruben Vargas strike to double the lead and ultimately send the reigning champions back to Rome trophyless.
Unrest Behind The Scenes
Luciano Spalletti performed miracles at Napoli, and ultimately, when he left, he deservedly took over the Azzurri, however with a short time in charge and with missing players through injury, such as the likes of Destiny Udogie, Giorgio Scalvini, Francesco Acerbi and Domenico Berardi and also missing previous winners Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci, despite trying to bring the best squad possible there were a lot of holes in the squad selection both due to circumstances out of control but also shock value with some names that looked to certain to make it to Germany ultimately didn't and was the first shock of many to come from Spalletti's reasoning behind his specific decision-making process.
In addition to this, there has seemed to be the idea that there was a lack of commitment from players in training, who were allegedly confused with the tactics, explicitly believing that there was no intensity in the style of play and the methods put in place by Spalletti at this tournament, which had the knock-on effect of Luciano Spalletti finding himself without a clear leader leading to small cliques forming between various players in the dressing room.
The player's secondary problem with Luciano Spalletti is his selection process, with some players unhappy with the call-up of Nicolo Fagoli for his role in the betting scandal that saw Sandro Tonali receive a band from football as many players seemed to label him a snitch for exposing the Newcastle midfielder in the scandal; additionally, players were also shocked by the last minute tactical changes made by the manager with one specific case being the tactical changes made only two hours before their final group game against Croatia which left some players feeling excluded from the starting eleven.
What's Next For The Azzurri?
As expected, the outrage from the Azzurri fans, as well as the Italian media, was justified with a mixture of responses to their exit from the tournament, with some suggesting that he should resign from his role and some believing that he should be given more time and that it is his first tournament after a short time in charge.
Despite the split mixture of opinions, Luciano Spalletti will remain Italy's boss after being given a vote of confidence by FIGC president Gabriele Gravina at a news conference less than 24 hours after the defeat, who believes he is still the man to take Italy forward "Yesterday there was a long chat with the coach and I think it is unthinkable to solve problems by abandoning a project that is multi-year. You cannot abandon the project after eight or nine months." “A coach who has been in charge for nine or 10 games is central to the project, and he cannot always have all the players available".
Attention for Italy will now turn to the Nations League, which will be followed by the 2026 World Cup, with qualification being the prime objective, as Gravina made it clear."It woudl be an unimaginable disaster not to qualify for the World Cup three years in a row"
Additionally, the plan for the coming years is to have an increased focus in youth, with it being clear that their attacking selections up front weren't to an excellent standard and that the youth teams, given their recent European success, should not be overlooked with many talented players coming through the ranks such as the likes of AC Milan's Francesco Camarda who if he progresses at the same rate he will certainly start to get a look into the Italian squad as he gets older and could potentially be one of the names on the teamsheet if Italy qualify for the upcoming World Cup.
Ultimately, whilst there has been a lot of pressure on the Italians, and rightfully so as one of Europe's powerhouses, it was Spalletti's first tournament in charge after a short amount of time, and with this, he can take this tournament as an example, and it will allow him to tweak what works well and allow him to have another look at player selections for the fixtures at the end of the year once the respective league seasons start up again in September.