The president of the Football Federation, Gabriel Gravina,and the national coach, Luciano Spalletti, remain in place even after the shocking defeat against Switzerland which marked the exit in the round of 16 of the 2024 European Championship of the team that had won the competition just three years ago. “It’s a disappointment that we all have to reflect on, we did it together, me, the coach, Buffon and the whole team, the boys shared this disappointment, it’s a group that doesn’t distance itself from its responsibilities. We shared these responsibilities equally, we are all responsible and we must continue to be so”, said Gravina, “the coach and I had a long chat, I am very pragmatic and I believe it is unthinkable to solve problems by abandoning a multi-year project after 8-9 months”.
“I don’t have the culture of running away. A sense of responsibility implies a sense of lucidity. We must continue to work, Spalletti has our trust, in 60 days a new journey begins”, Gravina continued, “the lads were mortified, sorry, disappointed as we are and all the Italian fans, the biggest disappointment is that we were unable to demonstrate how much they worked. I am disappointed by the performance, yes, but not by the lads, they are the baggage on which we must insist”.
“I thank the fans for the affection shown, the players for their availability and the entire Federation for the quality and availability in finding solutions to any problem, the disappointment is that through my result it was not possible to show their level of quality, they depend on my results and remain trapped by the general idea, while they are truly top”, the coach stated, “I am the one who has more responsibility, but it is a game that I do not play, that of going back, in my life I have always been careful about what I have to do next, I cannot go back, it is clear that from what has been seen I have made some mistakes, I have tried to rejuvenate the team a little, since I am staying here, in the future even more will be done”.
“It is clear that the best Spalletti has not been seen, I read that I have raised the tone too much, that I have identified examples to follow, but my life is like this, my commitment will obviously be total, with the experiences gained and greater knowledge”, Spalletti said again, “we must also be honest, I came in and there was an immediate emergency of results. We were good up to a certain point, then we were unable to grow on this path and yesterday we took an unacceptable step backwards”.