Donnarumma disappointed, but Italy fans reject his apology | OneFootball

Gianluigi Donnarumma could ‘only apologise’ to Italy fans after the pathetic EURO 2024 exit to Switzerland, but was rebuffed by angry supporters in the stands.

The reigning Champions of Europe bowed out with a whimper in Germany, falling 2-0 to Switzerland with goals from Remo Freuler and Ruben Vargas.

Although the woodwork was rattled twice, that was down to a bizarre Fabian Schär header risking an own goal and when Gianluca Scamacca was probably offside.

“We can only apologise to everyone. It really hurts. We disappointed today and Switzerland deserved to win, so there’s nothing else to say,” Donnarumma told RAI Sport and Sky Sport Italia.

“We struggled throughout the match, other than at the end where they sat a bit deeper and we were able to take the initiative, but we really should’ve done it earlier.

“In the first half we lost the ball too easily, we left them too many spaces, we weren’t pressing properly. It was tough, it is a very difficult game to swallow, but this is how it went and we have to accept that.”

Donnarumma recognises Italy were lacking

Italy looked like they didn’t really believe from the start, their heads dropping even more after conceding the second goal within 27 seconds of the restart.

“We lacked a bit of everything today, we lacked courage and quality,” confessed Donnarumma.

“The first half performance was so bad, because they always had the initiative and hurt us. In the second half, we were meant to start strong, instead we conceded immediately and that made it even tougher.

“We were disappointing, we let people down, we have to accept that. Switzerland had too much time to think, we were not aggressive enough.

“We lacked the desire to react, to help each other out. We lacked everything today.”

Donnarumma saw in real time the response of the fans, because as captain he took the entire Italy squad under the section of supporters after the final whistle to salute them.

It did not get the effect he wanted, as they jeered and urged the players to go away.

“I don’t think we are the team that we saw today. It was enormously disappointing, we never got into the game, we made cheap mistakes. We give credit to Switzerland for a great performance, but we should’ve done much, much better.

“There are many talented young players in the side who need experience, so they can do well in the future. I realise it is tough to accept these words right now, but we have to look to the future.”