Mansion Sports – Franco Baresi has called for Italian football to undertake major introspection after the Azzurri were eliminated for the third consecutive time from the World Cup, while also defending Gennaro Gattuso from much of the criticism directed at him.

The Milan legend and former Italy national team captain spoke to Adnkronos following the penalty shootout defeat to Bosnia on Wednesday, with quotes via TuttoMercatoWeb, acknowledging that several key incidents in the match worked against the Azzurri, while emphasizing that the problems within the Italy national team run much deeper and cannot be attributed to a single coach alone.

Baresi Calls for “Mea Culpa,” Gattuso Not Blamed

“Yesterday there were several incidents that affected the course of the match, and those had a negative impact on our team,” said Baresi.

Baresi himself was referring to Alessandro Bastoni’s red card in the first half, which forced Italy to play with ten men for almost the entire match.

“However, Italy cannot continue to remain at the final stage merely to compete for qualification spots. All of Italian football must undertake a ‘mea culpa’ (introspection).

“Because the negative results that the Italy national team has recorded over the past twenty years are visible to everyone, with the sole exception being the success at the European Championship.”

Despite delivering broad criticism of the system, Baresi specifically defended Gattuso.

“In these past months, he (Gattuso) has given everything, his entire soul, and in my opinion, he has also done good work with very limited time,” he stated.

Baresi added, “Unfortunately, it was not enough. It is not for me to decide whether he should remain or not, but he is clearly among those least responsible for this failure.”

Broader Criticism of the Italian Football System

These statements stand in stark contrast to some of the harsh criticism directed at the coaching staff since Wednesday night and reflect a broader view that Italy’s problems are structural in nature, rather than solely the result of individual failure.