The shock of Italy missing out on their second consecutive World Cup is still fresh in the minds of Italian soccer fans. Dubbed by the newspapers in Italy as “embarrassing” and “disgraceful” all the momentum the national team had earned with their Euro 2020 championship was washed away against North Macedonia.
After Italy’s shock loss the players could find little solace in social media where the players and coach were bashed and insulted by the fans. Many fans called for the retirement of a few players and had unkind remarks to say about manager Roberto Mancini.
Now one Italian player is taking to social media to calm the waters and that is PSG midfielder Marco Verratti. Verratti took to Instagram to pleato fans to stop all the online harassment of his teammates and staff.
Marco Verratti takes to Instagram to stop online bashing of the Italian National Team
Marco Verratti (Photo by Claudio Villa/Getty Images)
In his Instagram post Marco Verratti wanted the fans to know, “When you win, it’s easy to thank everyone. I want to do it today after an elimination that will deny us the most wonderful and exciting competition for us players, but above all for all the Italian fans around the world. I want to thank everyone, staff, players and all those who work with passion and enthusiasm around the Nazionale. Unfortunately, in life and in football, it doesn’t always go the way your expectations, objectives and dreams had planned it. The disappointment is immense, but we already showed that with work, passion and heart, anything is possible.”
Verratti continued, “So in life or in football, just like after a great victory last summer or a huge defeat, we must continue fighting. Football is our passion, and I am sure we’ll continue to give our all to earn more satisfying moments together. One last thing: I don’t think the best way to deal with this is to insult everyone, because each of us tried to give our all (unfortunately it wasn’t enough). Above all please leave the younger players alone (if you really want to, insult us ‘older’ guys, because sometimes you forget we are just people like you, normal folks, and that we too feel the biggest emotions in the smallest things).”
