Italian players and Roberto Mancini are being heavily criticised after Tuesday’s defeat to Germany in the Nations League, but La Gazzetta dello Sport partially absolves Gigio Donnarumma.
The Azzurri suffered a 5-2 loss against Germany last night, one of the most embarrassing defeats in their history.
Clearly, the media haven’t taken the result lightly, as the CT Mancini and Italy players have been heavily criticised in this morning’s Pagelle.
According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, Alessandro Bastoni was the worst player on the pitch on Tuesday. The pink paper wrote that it was probably his worst game ever. The Inter star was rated 4/10, the same as Davide Calabria, Leonardo Spinazzola, Davide Frattesi, Bryan Cristante and Giacomo Raspadori.
Gazzetta partially absolved Donnarumma despite a wrong pass that caused Germany’s fifth goal in the second half. According to the paper, the PSG star was the best Azzurri on the pitch (6/10), even if his late error cancelled out his previous four saves.
On the other hand, Tuttosport blamed the product of Milan academy, naming him as the worst player on the pitch (4.5/10), the same as Bastoni and Politano.
As per Il Corriere dello Sport, Davide Calabria was the most disappointing Azzurri man: the Milan defender received the lowest rating, 4.
Mancini was also criticised. Gazzetta wrote that the CT showed ‘confused ideas,’ while Corriere dello Sport added that the path toward reconstruction would be ‘long and tiring.’
Wilfried Gnonto was the only player to save face on German soil. He became the youngest Azzurri scorer at a senior level and received the highest ratings on Italian papers.