The Italian national soccer team experienced an evening to forget in Mönchengladbach. Roberto Mancini’s team went down mercilessly against Germany, conceding five goals for the first time in 65 years. The nerves are blank afterwards.
The 2: 5 disgrace in the Nations League against Germany, which was as crashing as it was surprising, spoiled the mood of Italy’s footballers. “We’re angry,” confessed the goalkeeper and European champions captain Gianluigi Donnarumma, who had been let down several times by his front men, after the historic defeat on TV station Rai. “There’s no excuse for something like that. Nothing went right for us today.” For the first time in 65 years and a 6-1 draw with Yugoslavia in May 1957, Italy conceded five goals again.
Donnarumma also recalled that the Squadra Azzurra was visibly tired in the fifth game within two weeks. “But we don’t want to make excuses. We’re sorry for the fans that they had to see that. That’s not how it works,” he said. Then the 23-year-old verbally attacked the TV reporter. This had asked him about the mistake before the 0: 5 and noticed that he had recently shown weaknesses more often. “Anyone who wants to be polemical should be polemical,” snapped the goalkeeper. “There is no one to blame, only the team. If you want to blame me for the mistake, do it, no problem.”
Coach Roberto Mancini was a little more forgiving and recalled the team’s rebuilding after missing out on qualifying for the World Cup, which included defeats: “It’s a shame that things turned out like they did today.” One of the few bright spots for Mancini are the appearances of some debutants in recent games. Striker Wilfried Gnonto, for example, scored the 1:5 in the meantime and is now the youngest goalscorer in the history of the Italian A team at the age of 18 years and a good seven months. “We saw that we still have a lot of work to do,” said the teenager from FC Zurich in a ZDF interview. “We don’t have that much time. We have to get to that level. We have a lot of good players but we still have work to do.”
