Former Italy CT Roberto Donadoni felt the Azzurri suffered ‘a physical and mental decline’ after winning EURO 2020. ‘I refuse to think that we must avoid Portugal’.
Italy didn’t manage to find a way past Northern Ireland on Monday – with the match in Belfast ending in a 0-0 draw – and thus finished second in Group C of the World Cup Qualifiers.
The 58-year-old, however, believes Roberto Mancini’s men are still going to the World Cup next year.
“Italy suffered a physical and mental decline, but no defeatism,” Donadoni told La Repubblica. “I don’t conceive excesses.
“In football, it’s increasingly difficult to find balance. The most obvious defect of Italy was the lack of competitive aggression. But I exclude it was due to lack of motivation, if anything I noticed a physical condition lower than the usual.
“The play-off is no catastrophe. I refuse to think that we must avoid Portugal: it’s a sign of weakness.”
The former midfielder, who has been without a job since he left Shenzhen FC in August 2020, guided the Azzurri to the quarter-finals of EURO 2008.
Donadoni replaced Marcello Lippi as the Italy CT after the World Cup triumph in 2006 and stayed until after the European Championship two years later.