Ulivieri: “Spalletti is a scapegoat. He didn’t make a mistake, we need more courage with young players”

Luciano Spalletti is not to blame, or at least not the kind that would justify his farewell to the National team bench. This is the clear position of Renzo Ulivieri, president of the Italian Coaches Association, who in an interview with LaPresse defended the now ex-Italian coach, pointing the finger instead at a system that has struggled to valorize talent for years.

"There was nothing wrong with the coach - Ulivieri declared - he is a valuable coach and there is no question about it. Maybe he lacked experience as a selector, but he worked well. The problems were elsewhere". A strong endorsement that aims to shift the attention from the results on the pitch to a deeper issue: the lack of confidence in the future.

According to Ulivieri, the problem does not arise in the youth teams, where they still work carefully on the fundamentals, and the exceptions of overly schematic coaches are isolated. The real issue, he explains, is the lack of courage in launching young players into the first team, in making them make mistakes, grow and stay. “It is not true that there is a lack of talent,” he warns, “if you look at the results of the youth national teams, the boys are there. What is missing is the strength to really focus on it, as they do abroad.”

A j'accuse aimed not only at the federal leaders but at the entire ecosystem of Italian football, incapable of accompanying talents in the decisive leap. For Ulivieri, changing course is no longer an option but a necessity: a cultural shock is needed that frees young people from the shadow of suspicion and the bench. Only in this way can we return to building a solid, competitive national team worthy of its history. Spalletti, after all, could just be yet another wrong target.