Following Italy's failure to qualify for the World Cup, TuttoMercatoWeb published an article criticizing the performance of Inter Milan players in the national team.
TuttoMercatoWeb wrote: “Once upon a time, we had the Juventus core group. Now, it is the era of the Inter Milan core group. Looking at the various historical cycles of the Italy national team, a common characteristic has been that the core players almost all come from the same domestic club. While the so-called Juventus core group often yielded the expected results, we can certainly not give the same evaluation to this generation of Italy's national team composed of Inter Milan players, who almost all underperformed on the night in Zenica.”
“This path full of failures actually has a long history, starting from the 2023 Champions League final. In that narrow defeat against Manchester City, Inter Milan lost with honor. However, the situation last year was completely different. The Nerazzurri lost the final of Europe's top competition again, but in a completely different way—they suffered the heaviest defeat in the history of the Champions League final. It should be made clear that Inter Milan is not composed solely of Italian players, but what is certain is that this group of Italians under Simone Inzaghi failed to hold their nerve at the most crucial moments when the pressure was at its peak.”
“The same thing happened again yesterday, although there were differences in individual performances. Alessandro Bastoni's performance was the worst; his mistake directly led to Italy's elimination. Nicolò Barella's performance was the best among the entire team, but still did not fully meet expectations.”
“Next is Federico Dimarco. Based on his performances against Northern Ireland and Bosnia and Herzegovina, he was one of the worst players on the pitch. Finally, there is Francesco Pio Esposito. He first missed a certain goal that would have extended the score to 2-0, and then sent the ball soaring into the sky in the first round of the penalty shootout. The future belongs to him, but reality tells us another story: what is certain is that the Inter Milan core group has failed.”
