Italy coach Cesare Prandelli was clearly disappointed following Sunday’s 4-0 Euros final defeat to Spain but full of pride for a tournament where he rated his side eight out of 10.
The Italians were undone in the final as the reigning European champions proved far too good and Prandelli conceded defeat but was also philosophical despite the loss.
“I’d give us an eight out of ten for the tournament. We had a difficult group and played some good games; we just struggled to recover our fitness,” he said.
“Italy have shown terrific team spirit, they’ve shown you can play attacking football, they’ve shown you don’t have to kick people, they’ve shown you can lose with dignity and that they can react to hard situations.”
He added: “I think we’ve had a terrific European Championship and our only regret is that we didn’t have a few more days to rest before this game.
“We played against Spain in the group stage and I thought we were excellent then – because we were 100 per cent fit. Against a team like Spain you need to be at your best.”
Prandelli said he believed his side were tired in the final having knocked out Germany on Thursday, while he felt injuries to Giorgio Chiellini and Thiago Motta, the latter leaving them with only 10 fit players, hardly helped their cause.
“Our only regret is that we were so tired. We were up against a great side, the world champions, and as soon as we went down to ten men it was game over,” he said.
“We had a couple of chances at the start of the second half but didn’t take them and when Thiago Motta went off we had nothing left in the tank. When we did attack, we struggled to get back to cover.”