Italy’s Euro exit: Inter Milan causes horror with congratulatory post

Before the tournament began, only a Swiss player would have thought it possible that Switzerland would destroy the Italians’ dream of defending their title – if at all. But the Azzurris were not only in for a shock on the pitch of Berlin’s Olympic Stadium on Saturday evening, the Swiss simply outplayed them.

The Swiss team’s unexpected entry into the quarter-finals was celebrated in a place that made many Italians’ stomachs turn – at Inter Milan. After the final whistle, the football club congratulated Swiss goalkeeper Sommer on his victory on social media and even captioned the post with hearts.

For many of the club’s fans, this was an impossibility. Although Sommer normally plays goal for Inter Milan, on this evening he was instrumental in knocking the Squadra Azzurra out of the tournament. Some fans were outraged at the timing, while others found the post inappropriate overall. “Italy has just been knocked out in a shameful way. Shame on you,” tweeted one Inter fan. The post was inadmissible, he commented. Others took a more relaxed view. After all, it was nothing new that Inter supported its players at the European Championships – regardless of which team they played for in the tournament.

What does Yann Sommer think about all this? Unknown.

He said in an interview with “tz” that he didn’t have to console his Inter Milan teammates after the game. It was a deserved victory. “I think we were in control everywhere,” he said. They were brave and played the way they wanted to. He continued: “It was a deserved victory. Of course it was disappointing for them, but very pleasing for us.”

Italy’s big European Championship embarrassment

The fact that the Swiss knocked the Italians out of the tournament was a surprise, but not at all. The Italians had played poorly at the European Championships from the start, barely making it past the preliminary round. The hope was that the defending champions would finally break the deadlock against Switzerland. But instead, the squadra had a disastrous evening. It was 20 years ago that an Italian national team had to go home with an even worse result. Back then, the team had not even made it past the preliminary round.

After the game, national coach Spalletti had to put up with a question from a Swiss press representative as to whether Italy had been a Fiat Panda and Switzerland the Ferrari in the round of 16 match. He found this to be a “tasteless allusion”. In fact, the question was downright cute compared to what the Italian press had to say about Spalletti’s team’s performance. Among other things, they wrote of perhaps the “ugliest team” in history.