Gianluigi Donnarumma has apologised to Italy fans following their 2-0 loss to Switzerland in the Euro 2024 round of 16 on Saturday.
Goals in either half from Remo Freuler and Ruben Vargas brought an end to the Azzurri’s hopes of defending the title they won at Wembley four years ago.
The Italians were a shadow of themselves in Germany, and Donnarumma acknowledged the team took responsibility for their poor showing.
“Really bad. There isn’t much to say. We are destroyed. I really struggle finding words because we played an incredibly bad game,” the Paris Saint-Germain shot stopper said.
“They [Switzerland] are deservedly through to the quarter-finals. So, there’s some soul-searching to do all together to understand what we could have done better because we should have done much, much better. We are also sorry for the fans who came here in great numbers.
“Those of us who were on the pitch have to take responsibility. We were not able to put into practice the things that we had practised. We gave away too many easy balls. It had been an issue before, and it was [against Switzerland] as well. And that’s something we have to improve.”
Donnarumma 🚫#EURO2024 | #SUIITA pic.twitter.com/o9G2sNkeh0
— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) June 29, 2024
Italy manager, Luciano Spalletti, equally took responsibility for the defeat stating:
“I am responsible for what happened. I have to take the blame because I am the one who chose the players. But it’s clear that I am in the middle of a journey where I still have to understand some things.
“I am not happy with the match we played, I am not happy with the match we played against Spain. I am partially satisfied with the two other matches [against Albania and Croatia]. But in these two [Spain and Switzerland] we’ve been below our level…”
Italy’s defeat means they have failed to reach the Euros quarter-finals for the first time since 2004 when they fell at the group stage.
