Roberto De Zerbi has blamed Italian football for ‘arrogance’ around PSG in Inter Milan’s humiliating defeat in the Champions League Final.
Inter suffered the heaviest defeat in a Champions League final after going down 5-0 to PSG inside the Allianz Arena.
The Nerazzuris also lost to Manchester City in the final in the 2022/2023 season.
“Inter are a great team and Inzaghi is a great coach, so a five-goal gap is excessive,” De Zerbi told Alessandro Cattelan’s Supernova podcast in Italy (via Football Italia).
“The problem is that Italian football didn’t know about PSG and was arrogant. They didn’t know that every time they start from kick-off booting it out of touch like rugby, or that Ousmane Dembele stays up near the edge of the area to pounce on loose passes, or that Doué is a talent on the same level as Yamal, even if not yet as decisive.
“They didn’t know that Vitinha is perhaps currently the best midfielder in the world, nor about Neves and Pacho. In Italy, they didn’t write a single line about my Marseille getting second place and they snub Ligue 1, not realising it is a difficult league.
“Football is difficult everywhere, just look at what happened to Italy in Norway.”
Also Read: Juventus Move To Sign Osimhen From Napoli
Luciano Spalletti was sacked following Italy’s 3-0 defeat to Norway in Oslo, making their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign an uphill struggle already.
This means Italy run the risk of failing to qualify for a third consecutive World Cup.
Commenting on the poor performance by his country in the World Cup qualifiers, De Zerbi said as an Italian abroad, it hurts to see his national like this.
The 46-year-old Italian who currently handles Marseille, stated that at the moment there is just a lack of players at a certain level, meaning something is being done wrong somewhere.
“I don’t know who to blame, but it is not the fault of the coaches, as there has been a series of them on the bench. Nobody could do things that much differently.
“This is not the era of Totti, Del Piero, Inzaghi, Montella, when you had so many strikers that you didn’t know who to bring along to tournaments. That is what’s happening for France and Spain now, but not Italy.
“Apart from four or five really strong players, like Bastoni, Barella, Tonali and Locatelli, there isn’t much talent out there. We can’t even compete with players like Haaland, Odegaard and Nusa. Our level is low.”
