Pio Esposito breaks silence: harsh retort to critics
Twelve days after the bitter ending of the playoff final for the World Cup in Zenica, Pio Esposito has broken his long silence and given an answer to the criticism rained on him especially for the missed penalty as the first shooter, which turned out to be decisive in a negative way, together with Cristante’s one, for the destiny of the national team. Interviewed by the Corriere della Sera, the class of 2005 in force at Inter strongly rejected all charges, sparing no harsh words against those who criticized him.
“There is exaggeration, both good and bad – said bluntly Esposito, one of the revelations of this Serie A championship, however, back from the Azzurri disappointment -. I am a 20-year-old guy who comes from B to whom no one has given anything, who is doing well in his first season at Inter, but who has not yet done anything to trouble certain comparisons. I am not at fault though: I never said I was a phenomenon or worth 100 million. I’m just a guy who gives his all every day.”
Turning then ideally to the penalty spot on the evening of March 31, Esposito explained the feelings he felt: “I had my eyes fixed in one spot and I couldn’t understand what had happened, I was under the ground. The first thought was that I had let down my teammates, people back home, friends, family. I will still kick penalties, I will score and some I will miss: that day I was convinced to take the responsibility to shoot first, I felt confident, then it went wrong.”
Born in Castellammare di Stabia on June 28, 2005, Pio Esposito (son of Agostino, a former footballer and coach) started playing as a child at Voluntas Brescia and Brescia Calcio, later attracting the attention of Inter, which brought him up in its youth teams before turning him on loan to Spezia between 2023 and 2025, in Serie B.
Since this season he has been a permanent fixture in the Nerazzurri’s squad and has scored, between league and cups, 9 goals at the Easter break. His brothers Salvatore and Sebastiano are also footballers: the former plays for Sampdoria, which owns his card, the latter is owned by Inter but is playing on loan at Cagliari.
