Gennaro Gattuso said failure to lead Italy to 2026 World Cup qualification as coach has left a lifelong “wound.”
He nevertheless offered his sincere best wishes to his successor, Roberto Mancini.
Gattuso stepped down in April just days after the Azzurri‘s World Cup playoff loss to Bosnia-Herzegovina which saw the Italians miss out on a third consecutive men’s World Cup.
Italy reinstalled former national team boss Mancini as coach in July.
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“I had 10 wonderful months,” Gattuso said of his Italy coaching spell on Monday after guiding Lazio to a 1-0 win at Bologna in their Serie A opener.
“The lads I coached gave me their all. And it’s a wound that will remain for as long as I live, because it was a deep wound.”
Gattuso, a 2006 World Cup winner with Italy, returned to club coaching in June, signing a contract with Lazio. He does believe the national team is in good hands with Mancini.
“I’d say he [Mancini] is a great coach with a wealth of experience,” Gattuso said. “I wish him all the best because our football needs it. He’s a great manager; he’s someone who has already won with the national team, and I obviously wish him all the best from the bottom of my heart.”
Mancini, 61, had a five-year stint as head coach of Italy between 2018 and 2023, winning the European Championship but failing to qualify for the 2022 World Cup.
He was not the first choice to succeed Gattuso. Andrea Pirlo was the leading candidate to take the job after Carlo Ancelotti and Pep Guardiola turned down the offer.
However Pirlo’s potential hiring was ruled out due to concerns over a sponsorship deal he had with Russian betting firm Fonbet.
The Lega Serie A had wanted former Napoli and Juventus coach Antonio Conte, who held the Italy reins from 2014 to 2016, to guide the national team for a second time, but Italy’s Football Federation (FIGC) opted for Mancini.
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“It’s true, the Serie A League would have liked Antonio Conte to be in charge of the national team,” Lega Serie A president Ezio Maria Simonelli said on Monday.
“But today we must get behind Mancini and hope that he restores Italian football to the glory it deserves.
“Our national team manager has an outstanding track record, crowned by the 2021 European Championship, the last major trophy won by Italian football. I wish him all the best for the next five matches, starting with the Nations League fixture against Belgium on Sept. 25.”
