Italians struggle to comprehend ‘mortifying result’

IT may have been unmissable in Manchester but it was ‘unwatchable’ in Rome, at least according to the front page headline in Il Messaggero, the capital’s daily paper, as Italy woke up to its heaviest defeat in nearly 40 years of international football.

Statistics show that Juventus lost 7-0 in Vienna in 1958 in the first round of the European Cup – but Italy were not world champions back then and the consequences of this rout could be far greater, judging by reactions in the media.

“Carrick, Smith, Rooney, Ronaldo, Ronaldo, Carrick, De Rossi, Evra. Not a nursery rhyme, it’s the list of scorers – and a 7-1 scoreline that will leave its mark on the whole of Italian football,” says Ruggiero Palombo of the Gazzetta dello Sport.