I thought about this saying after watching with embarrassment the Italy 0-2 defeat to Switzerland in the last16 round of the EURO 2024.
Gravina, FIGC’s (Italy Football Association) president hired Luciano Spalletti, Napoli’s former manager, thinking he could easily replicate the success he had with the patenopei.
Spalletti thought he could manage the Italy national team in a similar fashion to what he did for FC Napoli.
The players thought they could just linger, living off their past glories.
The supporters thought that at some point and all of the sudden Italy would start magically playing the same attractive football that Napoli played under Spalletti.
The 0-2 defeatĀ to Switzerland, who placed second in their qualifying group behind Romania, told everybody the truth.
What got you here, won’t get you there.