Roberto Mancini was livid. When the referee blew for full time, the Italy coach struggled to believe that his side had just lost 0-1 to North Macedonia, bidding farewell to their chances of making it to the 2022 World Cup.
It took some time for Mancini to pick himself up and come to talk to the press. The coach highlighted his disappointment:
“Last July, I had the biggest joy in my career at the Euro. Now, I just lived the biggest disappointment. This is football, sometimes incredible things happen. It’s difficult for me to analyze this game, I didn’t even look at the stats. We totally deserved to win the European Championship but the luck that favored us eventually turned its back on us.”
The Azzurri coach was at a loss of words to comment on the game at the Renzo Barbera Stadium. Italy dominated for most of the game, collecting a flurry of corner kicks, but did not pose any real threat to the North Macedonian goal.
They were eventually punished by a late goal from Aleksandar Trajkovski, who found the back of the net from his very first shooting attempt:
“I don’t know what to say. Perhaps we should not have come to this point. We had at least two chances that usually don’t end up like this. We just needed to score one. Conceding such a goal on 90 minutes adds insult to injury. This is a team with many good players, I am really sorry for them.”
Finally, Mancini refused to comment on his future. While the Italian Football Association President Gabriele Gravina expressed his wish that Mancini maintains his position at the helm of the Azzurri, in the past few days the gaffer had hinted that he would vacate his role if Italy failed to qualify to the World Cup:
“I thank President Gravina for his trust but it’s difficult to talk about my future now. Tough days are coming. The boys didn’t deserve to miss the World Cup. But, when you lose, you just have to take it and remain silent.“