Spalletti sends sympathies to Gattuso after Italy exit: ‘First thoughts went to him’

Juventus head coach and former Italy CT Luciano Spalletti has expressed his sympathies with Gennaro Gattuso, who left his role in charge of the national team after Thursday’s World Cup play-off final defeat away against Bosnia and Herzegovina: ‘I put myself in his shoes, my first thoughts went to him’. 

• Read Football Italia Ad-Free and get access to Exclusive News and Content – Free Trial – Click Here

Spalletti on Italy, Gattuso and why introducing a minimum quota for Italian players in Serie A wouldn’t work

Spalletti gave his honest assessment of the Italy national team set-up during his post-match interview following Juventus’s 2-0 Serie A win over Genoa on Easter Monday. 

Spalletti himself left the role of Italy national team head coach less than a year ago following a miserable EURO 2024 campaign and a costly defeat against Norway in World Cup qualifying, and now, the Azzurri will have to find their third head coach in a year following Gattuso’s recent departure. 

“When the game against Bosnia ended, I swear, I put myself in Gattuso’s shoes, my first thoughts went to him. He’s a decent person, he has passion, he has all the qualities to become one of the best in the world,” Spalletti told the press on Easter Monday. 

“I said to myself: ‘If I’d still been there and it happened to me in that environment, in that stadium … I really wouldn’t have got out of it. 

“I suffered a lot, in a big way. It created a non-reaction. I couldn’t talk about football, I almost hid from it. 

“That said, if Kean had scored, we’d be talking about how great Italy is. We need a bit more balance with these swings of opinions and realise that it’s easy before you get to the national team, when you’re there, you can suffer, it happens, it’s the weight of the situation. We had done well, we won all of our matches except against Norway, but it’s a very heavy situation.” 

Spalletti agrees with large sections of the Italy supporters that there are not enough chances handed to young Italian talents in Serie A. 

That said, Spalletti does not agree with the recent suggestions that there should be a minimum quota of Italian players playing in each Serie A match. 

“Out of the 33 players on the pitch in Udinese-Como, only two were Italian,” Spalletti pointed out. “That’s a fundamental issue because we have to try and protect our talents. I don’t want to advise, but we can’t do it on our own.” 

Some supporters have called for a minimum number of Italian players to be fielded in each Serie A match, but this is a suggestion that Spalletti sees flaws in. 

“I’ll give you an example. What if you had an U19 player play in every Serie A team? We’d be forced to have four available just to play one, and then what? I go and watch players a few years earlier because we need them, but then who actually makes it? Maybe none from Juve, but you might get one come through at Cremonese. I need someone who doesn’t let the level drop.

“Our national team is strong, they showed it to you under Gattuso and as far as I’m concerned, he made the right choices. These incidents have decided it, it’s not that we are the worst in the world now. It’s the interpretation of the games that makes the difference. Football is a game of incidents.”