Coach Spalletti: "I take responsibility when Italy lost to Switzerland"

Highlight Switzerland 2-0 Italy

"I am the one responsible. The Italian team lost because of my team selection, not the players' fault," coach Spalletti said at a press conference after Italy's 0-2 loss to Switzerland in the round of 16 of Euro 2024 on the evening of June 29 (Vietnam time) at the Olympic Stadium (Berlin, Germany).

However, coach Spalletti said that his time leading the Italian team was too short, so he did not fully understand the players. The former AS Roma coach shared that all other coaches had 30 or more matches with their teams before the start of the Euro, while he had only 10 matches in charge of the Italian team.

The disappointment of Italian players after being eliminated by Switzerland in the round of 16 of Euro 2024 (Photo: Getty).

"It is possible that I will build a better team, but it will take a little more time. I don't have much time. If you look at my predecessors, most of them have more matches than me," the 65-year-old coach said.

Spalletti was appointed as Italy coach in August 2023, after coach Roberto Mancini resigned.

He made six changes to his starting line-up against Switzerland, but rather than injecting energy and creativity into the team, they looked disjointed and lacking in creativity, barely managing a shot on target.

Italy had to play without one of their most impressive players in Germany, with defender Riccardo Calafiori suspended.

Ruben Vargas' scored a beautiful goal just seconds into the second half after Italy lost control of the ball (Photo: AFP).

Goals in each half from Remo Freuler and Ruben Vargas gave Switzerland their first win over Italy in 31 years and they set up a quarter-final against England or Slovakia in Düsseldorf on 6 July.

Spalletti told reporters: "That goal at the beginning of the second half cut us off, we weren't very decisive. What made the difference was the pace, we had too little pace compared to them in the first half. Even individual players had different pace to them.

Speed and freshness always make the difference, I changed the players by letting them recover and maybe at the moment we can't do more than this. World Cup? A discussion will be made later, we need more legs and speed."

Vietnamese football fans can enjoy the full UEFA Euro 2024 Finals for free on TV360 at: https://tv360.vn/

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/hlv-spalletti-toi-nhan-trach-nhiem-khi-italy-thua-thuy-si-20240630064736046.htm