Daniele De Rossi explained that his remonstration with Gian Piero Ventura was in a bid to make the head coach put on extra strikers in Italy’s failed bid to reach the 2018 World Cup.
The Roma stalwart, who said he has taken off the Azzurri jersey “for the last time”, was spotted on camera showing his frustration apparently at the decision not to send on Napoli forward Lorenzo Insigne, despite Italy desperately needing to score with the match goalless against Sweden on Monday.
“We have this tendency to warm up three at a time, then after five minutes we change and another three go,” he told Rai Sport .
“I just said we were near the end and had to win, so send the strikers to warm up. I pointed to Insigne too.
“It wasn’t up to me whether it was a tactical issue. I’m sorry if I offended anyone. At the time I just thought perhaps it was better that Insigne come on instead.”
