Giampiero Ventura admits ‘my biggest mistake was not resigning sooner’ as Italy CT but claims he was the target of an ‘unprecedented’ smear campaign.

Ventura was sacked for failing to lead Italy into a World Cup for the first time in 60 years, but the former Torino boss insisted his project was ‘going well’ until the Azzurri’s 3-0 defeat to Spain, which saw him become the ‘only culprit’ and a ‘punching bag’.

Giampiero Ventura admits ‘my biggest mistake was not resigning sooner’ as Italy CT but claims he was the target of an ‘unprecedented’ smear campaign.

Ventura was sacked for failing to lead Italy into a World Cup for the first time in 60 years, but the former Torino boss insisted his project was ‘going well’ until the Azzurri’s 3-0 defeat to Spain, which saw him become the ‘only culprit’ and a ‘punching bag’.

“I’ve been in football for 35 years, but I’ve never been involved in sporting politics,” he told Gazzetta dello Sport.

“I’ve never been part of a system. I always thought that ‘being’ mattered more than just ‘showing up’, that ‘producing’ mattered more than ‘promising’. The project I had put on the table was going well.

“I’d inherited the oldest Italy squad of the last 50 years and I was getting old myself with the massive insertion of younger players: I gave 14 new players their debuts.

“If we’d qualified, these young players would’ve been included in the squad for the World Cup, where I continue to believe that Italy would’ve done well.

“Russia 2018 should’ve been the launching pad for us to be among the favourites at Euro 2020. Everything made sense and worked until the game against Spain.

“We got to that match with seven wins, two draws and support from the fans. After that game, an unprecedented demolition started, a premeditated crime never seen before…

“After that defeat, continuous delegitimisation began. I became the only culprit of everything bad. It was all Ventura’s fault. Ventura hit the post, Ventura missed the target, Ventura took Italy out of the World Cup, Ventura commissioned the FIGC…

“Until Spain, I was the national team’s CT. After that, I became a punching bag. I stayed out of passion and affection.

“I only know that at that moment, I still felt a strong attachment to the Azzurri. I felt that despite everything, we could do it. Of course, my biggest mistake was not resigning sooner.”

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