Italy coach Luciano Spalletti was proud of his players after reaching Euro2024.
A 0-0 draw with Ukraine was enough to send the Azzurri to Germany.
Spalletti said, “I heard the media talking about fear, but you’ve been telling me from the moment I arrived that this game was fundamental.
“Considering what happened in the recent past with other tournaments, we absolutely had to qualify and it’s not easy to play football when you can feel that pressure breathing down your neck.
“It is not easy to come in and immediately make the right choices. Some things I learned only after taking the job and now I think I know a little more. I came here to qualify, not to find excuses in case we missed out.
“Now the real work starts, now I have the opportunity to really start getting to work. When I accepted the role, I knew that qualification was mandatory.
“We want to get as close as possible to what happens at a club. We want to keep the players in contact, so I will not wait until March, I will go to the training centres, have dinner with them and ask for their opinions.
“We have great players in this Nazionale and I want to get to know them without that pressure of needing the result. The players have things to tell us. We will also from now on probably train with a drone, because we need the footage from the sessions.”
Spalletti added, “We needed this result to get back into the football that matters. Without the Euros, it would’ve been difficult to really get into a growth process. I will ask for the most difficult friendly fixtures, because many of these players do not have much experience at European level, so when else can they accumulate it?”
