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

Juventus head coach and former Italy CT Luciano Spalletti has expressed his sympathies with Gennaro Gattuso, who after Thursday’s World Cup play-off remaining defeat away towards Bosnia and Herzegovina: ‘I put myself in his sneakers, my first ideas went to him’.

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

Spalletti gave his trustworthy evaluation of the Italy nationwide staff set-up throughout his post-match interview following Juventus’s on Easter Monday.

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Spalletti himself left the function of Italy nationwide staff head coach lower than a 12 months in the past following a depressing EURO 2024 marketing campaign and a pricey defeat towards Norway in World Cup qualifying, and now, the Azzurri must discover their third head coach in a 12 months following Gattuso’s latest departure.

“When the sport towards Bosnia ended, I swear, I put myself in Gattuso’s sneakers, my first ideas went to him. He’s a good individual, he has ardour, he has all of the qualities to develop into probably the greatest on the earth,” Spalletti the press on Easter Monday.

MILAN, ITALY – NOVEMBER 16: Gennaro Gattuso, Head Coach of Italy, appears on previous to the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifier match between Italy and Norway at San Siro Stadium on November 16, 2025 in Milan, Italy. (Photograph by Marco Luzzani/Getty Photographs)

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“I stated to myself: ‘If I’d nonetheless been there and it occurred to me in that atmosphere, in that stadium … I actually wouldn’t have gotten out of it.

“I suffered loads, in a giant method. It created a non-reaction. I couldn’t discuss soccer, I virtually hid from it.

“That stated, if Kean had scored, we’d be speaking about how nice Italy is. We want a bit extra stability with these swings of opinions and realise that it’s simple earlier than you get to the nationwide staff, if you’re there, you’ll be able to endure, it occurs, it’s the burden of the scenario. We had executed properly, we gained all of our matches besides towards Norway, but it surely’s a really heavy scenario.”

ZENICA, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA – MARCH 31: Moise Kean of Italy celebrates after scoring his staff’s opening aim through the FIFA World Cup 2026 European Qualifiers KO play-offs match between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Italy at Stadion Bilino Polje on March 31, 2026 in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. (Photograph by Getty Photographs/Getty Photographs)

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Spalletti agrees with massive sections of the Italy supporters that there usually are not sufficient probabilities handed to younger Italian skills in Serie A.

“Out of the 33 gamers on the pitch in Udinese-Como, solely two had been Italian,” Spalletti identified. “That’s a basic problem as a result of we have now to try to defend our skills. I don’t wish to advise, however we are able to’t do it on our personal.”

Some supporters have known as for a minimal variety of Italian gamers to be fielded in every Serie A match, however this can be a suggestion that Spalletti admits is perhaps troublesome to implement.

CAGLIARI, ITALY – FEBRUARY 21: Marco Palestra of Cagliari in distinction with Luca Pellegrini of Lazio through the Serie A match between Cagliari Calcio and SS Lazio at Stadio Sant’Elia on February 21, 2026 in Cagliari, Italy. (Photograph by Enrico Locci/Getty Photographs)

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“I’ll offer you an instance. What in case you had an U19 participant play in each Serie A staff? We’d be pressured to have 4 obtainable simply to play one, after which what? I am going and watch these gamers just a few years earlier as a result of we’d like them, however then who really makes it? You would possibly get none from Juve, however you would possibly get one come by way of at Cremonese. I would like somebody who doesn’t let the extent drop.

“Our nationwide staff is powerful, they confirmed it to you underneath Gattuso and so far as I’m involved, he made the correct selections. These incidents have determined it, it’s not that we’re the worst on the earth now. It’s the interpretation of the video games that makes the distinction. Soccer is a sport of incidents.”