Italy icon Cassano calls Bastoni, Barella and Dimarco 'overrated'

BeSoccer 9 months ago 2.1k |

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Cassano was critical of Italy's performance at the Euro 2024. AFP

Former player Antonio Cassano was critical of the Italian national team's performance at the last European Championship and, while defending Luciano Spalletti, regretted that the level of the Italian players was not higher.

Italy was one of the big disappointments of the last European Championship. The ‘Azzurri’, who already struggled to reach the last 16 in a group stage in which they fought with Spain, Croatia and Albania, were eliminated at the first hurdle in the final rounds after losing 2-0 to Switzerland.

Although several weeks have passed, the failure of the Italy national team is still very much in the news in Italian football. Antonio Cassano, a regular critic of the country's clubs and also of the ‘Azzurri’, spoke from his platform on the Twitch channel ‘Viva Football’ that he shares with fellow ex-footballers Adani and Ventola.

“It would have been better to pack our bags with Croatia, Zaccagni's goal was an illusion. This Italian national team is poor, stars are not born overnight and now we don't have players of great level,” began the former striker.

“Donnarumma made many saves and Calafiori played an excellent game against Croatia, but they are not big stars. Nothing more could have been done. Barella in Italy plays very well, but in Europe he suffers. Dimarco also shines in Italy and struggles in Europe. They are all overrated players. Bastoni plays with personality and tries to be a reference, but he is a disaster when he has to mark, defend or guard the position”, said the player who retired in 2017.