BERGAMO, ITALY – DECEMBER 10: Former football player Alessandro Del Piero looks on prior to the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Phase MD6 match between Atalanta BC and Real Madrid C.F. at Stadio di Bergamo on December 10, 2024 in Bergamo, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)
Speaking on Sky Calcio Unplugged the Juventus legend did not mince his words on the gravity of a third consecutive absence from the World Cup. “The first time in 2018 was a shock, the second felt like a nightmare; the third is starting to become embarrassing to justify,” he said. “We were an enormous power and finding ourselves here for the third time is incredible.”
Del Piero was emphatic that the failure cannot be pinned on any single individual, insisting the problems run far deeper than Gattuso’s short tenure or Gravina’s presidency.
“There are many complex situations that have all converged to produce this result,” he said. “Behind all of this there is so much more.”
Italy legend Del Piero: ‘We only think about saving our own ass, that needs to change’
His prescription for recovery was equally clear, and pointed directly at the culture of self-interest he believes is holding football back in Italy.
“We fundamentally think only about saving our own ass. That needs to change.”
The 51-year-old drew inspiration from Italy’s previous moments of crisis, arguing that adversity has historically brought out the best in the national character. “In our greatest moments of sporting crisis, 1982, 2006, we managed to find energy, creativity, desire and solutions,” he said. “Even today, when we seem far from those solutions.”
On the path to rebuilding, Del Piero identified a fundamental cultural problem in how young players are developed.
“We tell youngsters too much what to do, and this kills their creativity,” he said. “They become good at executing instructions but the moment they step outside that system they make mistakes and get written off as poor players. That is not the truth, the problem is that they have only been taught one thing.”
His closing message for Italy was blunt. “Pride must be set aside. What is needed now is humility, a willingness to start again, to study and to analyse who is doing things well. We are no longer who we think we are.”
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