I think Pirlo announced his retirement from NT yesterday to his teammates in the locker room, which isn't surprising, he hinted he would before the tournament. Never heard anything from Buffon yet, but GKs have a longer lifespan in the game.
Anyways, Edoardo Goldaniga (CB) and Andrea Belotti (ST) have a lot of hype behind them as well. Belotti is coming up this season with Palermo, hopefully he stays up there, I want to see him in Serie A. I think Goldaniga is staying in Serie B.
Milan CEO Adriano Galliani has come out in defence of Mario Balotelli, following heavy criticism of the player in the wake of Italy’s World Cup elimination.
The Rossoneri official believes there is a witch hunt against the 23-year-old forward, who was substituted at half time of the Azzurri’s 1-0 defeat to Uruguay yesterday.
“I don’t understand why people are only criticising Mario Balotelli, the only forward who scored a goal and the only attacker who created goal-scoring chances,” Galliani said to Tuttomercatoweb.com.
“The other attackers did not even threaten. It almost seems that Balotelli has gone out [of the tournament].
“I don’t understand it, the concept escapes me. Obviously the only footballer Italy has is Balotelli, because everyone only talks about him.”
Galliani was also questioned on post match comments made by Azzurri captain Gigi Buffon and Daniele De Rossi, who appeared themselves to be criticising Balotelli following Italy’s early departure from Brazil.
“Buffon and De Rossi’s words? They are not Milan players and I will keep what I think to myself.
“I’m talking about Balotelli who is a Milan player. I repeat, he is the only forward who scored a goal and who threatened to score a goal.
“You didn’t notice the others on the pitch in my opinion, so I don’t understand.”
Buffon, 36 and what saves he is still making. This year past the winterbreak, again clearly the best keeper in italy. Its not even close, pure on quality alone he's still the best one.
From the new generation, Insigne was incredibly bad.
El SHaraawy, should go to a new team. That guy is so talented, and milan is wasting it so hard
Serie A should be reduced to 18 teams and in Serie B there should be 'B' teams if Italians want to achieve something in the future. Prandelli can be faulted for the poor WC result but let's not kid ourselves - this Italy wouldn't do better even under Ancelotti/Conte/Montella. Espiecially in offense there aren't many quality options. It's no surprise because top Italian teams basiacally have no Italian forwards/wingers. Only Rossi can be counted as such IMO.