World Cup winner Marcello Lippi admits he was “terribly wrong” to step down as Italy CT after lifting that trophy.
The legendary Coach led the Azzurri to glory in Germany in 2006, but he resigned immediately after before returning for a disastrous second spell which ended in a group stage exit at the 2010 World Cup.
“I won everything I dreamed of winning and more,” Lippi told Corriere dello Sport.
“I got it terribly wrong once. I shouldn't have left the national team, and I should never have come back.
World Cup winner Marcello Lippi admits he was “terribly wrong” to step down as Italy CT after lifting that trophy.
The legendary Coach led the Azzurri to glory in Germany in 2006, but he resigned immediately after before returning for a disastrous second spell which ended in a group stage exit at the 2010 World Cup.
“I won everything I dreamed of winning and more,” Lippi told Corriere dello Sport.
“I got it terribly wrong once. I shouldn't have left the national team, and I should never have come back.
“I came back solely because I was wrong to leave after winning the World Cup, so I didn’t make one serious mistake but two.
“In South Africa was the third. When I was making my choices gratitude prevailed, and I realised too late that some players had given all they had.
“I also had a lot of bad luck because I lost [Gianluigi] Buffon, [Andrea] Pirlo and half De Rossi, half because Daniele had a calf problem.”