World Cup 2026: Italy-Moldova 2-0. Spalletti: 'Unfortunately I didn't make the difference'
Raspadori and Cambiaso sign the victory of Spalletti's last Italy
4' min read
4' min read
REGGIO EMILIA - "Italy! Italy! Italia!': the hundreds of children crowded in front of the entrance gates of the 'city of the Tricolour' stadium shouted it to the sky, already more than two hours before kick-off of the grotesque and melancholic evening that Italian football is giving itself, together with what is (or perhaps better to say should be) its highest symbol, the national team.
A sign, those choruses, that at least someone still believes in that shirt and in that Azzurro. Luciano Spalletti, who was - partly despite himself - the absolute protagonist of the evening in Reggio Emilia, believed in it with passion and conviction.
The technical commissioner on the bench with his dismissal already made official, the consensual termination already signed, his gaze fixed on the pitch and a great feeling inside, he may have pretended not to hear the whistles (not many, but still ingenuous) that came from the stands when the speaker pronounced his name at the reading of the line-ups.
It will take some time before it passes, the bitterness of Oslo and the pain of the farewell, for him, for our football, for all of us, naive lovers of that Azzurri jersey; hoping then that the advent of Claudio Ranieri will really bring the hoped-for change. We doubt it - and it is good to say it now - because it is not only the responsibility of the men if we have reached this point, but of a system that has marginalised and depotionalised the national team, battering its credibility and technical values. But of course, never underestimate the heart of champions,' goes the old adage, 'and Ranieri certainly is a champion, on and off the field.
Caresses and fears - The roar of the stadium, the choruses and applause for the Azzurri, the wait for kick-off. Small gestures of affection that count for little, perhaps nothing, but which do a great deal of good, in these chaotic and brutal days and hours, for our national team.
