A distraught Lele Adani absolves Rino Gattuso but attacks players
A distraught Lele Adani commented on Italy’s failure to qualify for the World Cup. “When we were eleven against eleven, we did no better than Bosnia,” the Rai pundit stressed.
We went ahead because we were given the goal, but we were no better than our opponents. Ours is a fragile national team, because during the match we pull the plug and make mistakes.”
“As men, the national team is built behind a right guideline, which is Gattuso’s, but inside the field there is always a moment when we pull the plug and we don’t know why. When we were ahead we gave Bosnia an extra man, because the sending off was our fault. You don’t have to reopen the game when you are in a position to direct it.”
The chronicle of the evening in Zenica tells of an Italy that took the lead at 15′ thanks to Moise Kean, who was good at taking advantage of a glaring mistake by Bosnian goalkeeper Vasilj in the setting phase. The turning point came at 41′ with the expulsion of Alessandro Bastoni, who knocked Memic to the edge of the area: referee Turpin had no doubts, leaving the Azzurri with ten men for the entire second half and extra time. Gattuso had reacted immediately by taking off Retegui and inserting Gatti to reset the defense, but Bosnia found the equalizer in 79′ with Tabakovic, on Donnarumma’s rebound after Dzeko’s conclusion.
In the extra time and then on penalties, the final drama unfolded. From the penalty spot, mistakes by Pio Esposito and Cristante, who hit the crossbar, were fatal, handing Bosnia World Cup qualification with a score of 4-1. For Italy, this is the third consecutive exclusion from the rainbow event: the Azzurri have been missing from the World Cup since 2014, and their dream of returning 12 years after their last participation has once again been shattered in dramatic fashion.
Making the climate even hotter in the preceding days had been the case of Dimarco and Pio Esposito’s jubilation, caught by Rai cameras as they celebrated Bosnia’s passage to the round against Wales at the end of the semifinal against Northern Ireland. The video had gone viral, unleashing the fury of Bosnian fans. Adani himself, live on the air, had anticipated the possible consequences: “You said not to show them, and then you frame them when they cheer… You have to cheer on Tuesday!” A prophecy that, in light of the final result, sounds today like a bitter omen.
