Italy boss Luciano Spalletti looked to blame Inter Milan for his side's early Euro 2024 elimination,hinting the club's Serie A title victory affected some players.
The Azzurri slumped out of the tournament in limp fashion with goals from Remo Freuler and Ruben Vargas sending them home in the Round of 16 on Saturday.
Post-match,Spalletti delivered a bizarre press conference in which he criticised the lack of time to prepare and admitted he would have to tear up his squad.
But,bizarrely,Italian champions Inter also found themselves in the firing line.
Five players from the club - Federico Dimarco,Matteo Darmian,Alessandro Bastoni,Davide Frattesi and Nicolo Barella - had been named in Spalletti's 26-man travelling group while three of them started the game against the Swiss.
Despite Italy's early exit,Spalletti retains the support of the head of the Italian FA
'This is a big disappointment. We are all responsible and we won't abandon the project started with Spalletti.'
Italy only sealed their spot in the first knockout round in Germany after beating Albania,losing to Spain and scoring a last-gasp winner against Croatia in their final group game - but notably delivered three underwhelming performances.
'All the other coaches of Italy had 20 or 30 matches before a major tournament,but I had 10,and we were under fire to win,' Spalletti added.
'That's only right but I probably need to get to know my team a bit better. We have had a number of players with injuries who I was also counting on.'
Italy FootballEuro 2024
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