Italy remains the laughing stock of Europe and the taunt is likely to continue to creep in the coming hours after being ruthlessly eliminated by Switzerland with a score of 0-2 at Euro 2024.
After the trauma of the previous two World Cups, Italy will be hoping to prove themselves again at Euro 2024 in Germany.
Today, 11 months later, however, it's still that Italy. The draw resulted in the draw placing them in the Group of Death, along with Croatia, Spain and Albania. If that wasn't bad enough, the coaching staff also had to accept some bad news before the start of the game, with several players including Giorgio Scalvini, Domenico Berardi, Sandro Tonali, Francesco Acerbi and Nicolò Zaniolo officially quitting the national team.
After a narrow 2-1 win over Albania in the first round of the group stage, Italy were overpowered by Spain and lost 1-0.
In the end, Italy drew with Croatia in the final game of the group stage. It's like a mini-final, and it's about making it to the round of 16. Croatia were in the lead for most of the game, but it was in the last seconds that Mattia Zaccagnini's courageous play (90+6th minute) equalised for Italy.
In the round of 16, Spalletti's side face Switzerland at the Olympia Stadium in Berlin. However, Italy never really got into the groove and in the end Switzerland won 2-0 to advance to the quarter-finals. Once again, the Italian team was humiliated.
Disappointing, unrecognizable, prosaic, insignificant, prosaic...... These adjectives are not enough to describe the overall performance of the Italian team at this European Championship. Apart from the brilliance of Calafiori, the solidity of Donnarumma and Bastoni, most of the main players of the Italian team have been mediocre.
The Italians completed their mission in Germany, but they were unable to defend their title.