Italy’s dressing rooms after the loss to Macedonia: pictures of shame

Loss can be present, it is part of the game, sports and life. But losing face, no. This is what happened in Barbera’s stomach after the match Italy – Macedonia, the blue “mother of all defeats” that condemned our national team to a new and long-term oblivion from the context of world football. Hopefully the date will be 2026 with the version that will take place between the United States, Mexico and Canada. Until then, for us only the shame of exclusion and difficult and exhausting reconstruction. But if this is the beginning from which to start again, it is better to turn the page.

In the changing rooms of Italy, which was bitterly left out of the World Cup, there were shouts from angry players, others screaming, desperate for defeat, many of whom returned with tears in their eyes. There are those who beat their fists on cupboards, inconsolable, between kicked bottles, hands in their hair, shirts thrown to the floor, on one of the worst nights in Italian football. But none of this justifies what we saw later.

The bathrooms were left dirty, like the toilets with a stretcher and other things on the floor, near the sanitary ware, inside the sinks. Then again dirt and grime ruin in the corridors leading to the changing rooms. Finally, in the hall that hosted the Italian national team before, during and after the race, the disaster: dozens and dozens of plastic bottles were left everywhere, garbage bins were so packed that the contents were overflowing and scattered around the floor. Napkins, handkerchiefs, cups, cans and leftovers of food and drink.

More than a locker room that hosted a national professional soccer team for an international date, the locker room at Palermo seems to have had a night spent between raucous parties and offending parties where at the end one is too shabby to think of putting it in order. Unspeakable, shameful, obscene. These are just some of the qualities that were wasted in front of the photos and a video filmed inside the “Barbera” on social networks by all users who strongly condemned the unacceptable behavior. After defeat, disappointment and anger at the loss of what should not be missed.

Certainly, in the ferocious post-match, there was no desire to think of anything other than the sad figure being cured on the pitch in the 90 minutes in which Italy built, played, tried to score, changed tactics, players, rhythms and geometry. But this saw North Macedonia honestly win the final match against Portugal over a place in the Qatar sun next December. But nothing can justify what the pictures show. Unsustainable destruction excludes the blue group as a whole, without going into specifics or details. Poor number made by players. That’s yes, all over the world.