Gennaro Gattuso insists this is “not the time” to talk about his future after Italy lost the World Cup play-off to Bosnia and Herzegovina, but he hints that Italian football has deeper problems.
The game had been going well in Zenica, with Italy taking the lead through Moise Kean, until Alessandro Bastoni was sent off before half-time for bringing down Amar Memic when he was clear on goal.
Italy held on until the 79th minute, when Haris Tabakovic scored from close range after another big save by Gianluigi Donnarumma on Edin Dzeko.
Despite playing with 10 men for an hour, Italy had chances to win in extra time, but lost in the penalty shoot-out as Francesco Pio Esposito and Bryan Cristante missed their kicks.
Gattuso not thinking about his Italy future
“I just finished speaking to the team. I can only thank them, as it had been years since I’d seen the national team play with such heart,” Gattuso told Sky Sport Italia.
“It hurts, it really hurts, but we must accept it. I don’t want to talk about referees or anything else. We could’ve scored a second goal and didn’t. We suffered with all those crosses, but we gave everything.
“I am proud of them. It hurts to accept this result. It will take time. On a personal level, it’s a heavy blow.”
The situation had already been difficult when Gattuso took over from Luciano Spalletti, as Italy had lost their opening qualifier 3-0 in Norway.
“When you are in a stadium with the fans pushing, we made a mistake and went down to 10 men. Even then, we had chances to score a second goal. The team did what it had to do today.
“People had been asking for an Italy side that cared about the shirt for years—well, they got that tonight. But the incidents went against us.”
What happens next?
“We’ll see, but I don’t think this is the time to talk about my future or anyone else’s. This is football—sometimes it makes you celebrate, sometimes it makes you suffer.”
This is the latest in a series of problems for Italian football, with all clubs eliminated from the Champions League before the quarter-finals.
“I won’t get into that debate. I am a coach. We all know it has been a struggle for a few years. I am not the right person to say what needs to improve—there are people who know more than me. So we’ll see,” Gattuso concluded.