Leonardo Bonucci has reacted to Italy’s failure to reach yet another World Cup after North Macedonia beat them in their last match.
The Azzurri had been the favourites to win the match played at home in Palermo, considering their opponents are minnows.
However, they were stunned by some resilient defending and a late goal to lose the match 1-0 and will now miss consecutive World Cups.
Bonucci was not involved in the game because he was injured, but the defender knows he shares the blame and they did badly to have missed out on another World Cup, months after they won the Euros.
He wrote on Instagram: “The great euphoria and joy of this summer countered by the disappointment and bitterness of this exclusion, made even worse by the fact I was unable to help my teammates for those 90 minutes.
“Now it is the moment to look forward. This summer we took the praise and the credit for doing something unique, today we must take responsibility for not earning our place, which was more down to our own mistakes than the efforts of others.
“It is time for analysis, concrete and deep focus, to start again, to give Italy and the Italians what they deserve. We’ve already done it once.”
Juve FC Says
The Azzurri players know they have no excuse for such a poor performance in the match even though they were missing some of their key men.
Their opponents had less quality in their team but the Italians still failed to take their chances, and they eventually paid for it.
Hopefully, they will bounce back on the international football scene again by winning the next Euros.
Gravina and tim want to destroy our club. Them staying the league sponsor was disturbing and disastrous as I predictedand live before we are punished to make the others who are not clean look better. Until that stops, and the var nonsense to help the certain club again for example, let the azzurri rot. Sorry. You can’t expect to build a team with players who are targeted with created ‘scandals’ every day. It’s mentally tiring even as fans.