Moratti unleashed: "Bastoni get blessed, Gattuso can’t make it"

Former Inter president Massimo Moratti made a sour comment to Tuttomercatoweb on Italy’s failure to qualify for the World Cup: “It’s a disaster, everything that could have been imagined for superstition has come true. We have a national team that is not up to its duties. If Gattuso wants to stay, certainly, but to do what? To rebuild requires something much deeper, careful, studied.”

The Azzurri were beaten by Bosnia in penalty kicks and Italian soccer is at yet another year zero. The next attempt will not be until 2030, 16 years after the last World Cup played by the national team. According to Moratti, Gattuso is unlikely to stay: “He has already taken on a responsibility greater than himself. Taking it on again may not be worth it. All those who are there must think that they have taken on responsibilities greater than themselves, from Gravina on down.”

“When one doesn’t make it, one doesn’t make it,” Moratti spoke plainly. “You’ve given it a try, you bet everything on it: if it goes wrong it goes wrong. If you put yourself in the shoes of the people who are hurting, it takes them a second to understand that they have to go.”

Moratti made a joke about Alessandro Bastoni, who was sent off during the match. The Inter defender is going through a black period, from the simulation with Juve, to the booing in the stadiums, and now this, “It’s a moment when he has to bless himself, with everything that’s happening to him.”

The atmosphere of the national team: “Well, already the long faces with which they were preparing said a lot. They talked about a joyful atmosphere, but it didn’t show. The national team touches everyone, there is no wonder or offense if people ask people to step aside, if one was not up to what they were supposed to do. I think you have to get serious about thinking about something lasting, and at the same time also consider doing something more serious to raise young people. Everyone says it and no one does it.”