Italy coach Roberto Donadoni ruled out resigning his post despite his country’s Euro 2008 exit on penalties to Spain.
Donadoni has come under fire for the team’s negative tactics during the course of the tournament, and in the quarter-final against Spain, without the suspended Andrea Pirlo, they were lacking in creativity.
The press speculated on Monday morning that Donadoni will be fired, but the coach remains defiant.
“Resign? The thought would never even enter the antechamber of my brain,” said Donadoni.
“It’s not because of a missed penalty that I’m going to change my opinion of our European Championships, that would be stupid.”
After the Spain defeat, Italian Federation (FIGC) president Giancarlo Abete refused to publicly back his coach.
“It’s positive in terms of the quality of the group of players and I’m pleased with the great bond created in the group but we are aware that our overall capacity and skills have certainly not reached the level that we expected,” he said.
And when pressed on what Abete had said him personally, Donadoni remained evasive.
“Just one hour ago at breakfast I spoke with president Abete. I simply told him I was happy to have experienced these two years,” he said.
Donadoni took over the post after Marcelo Lippi resigned following Italy’s 2006 World Cup victory in Germany and there have been calls for Lippi to return to
Donadoni admitted that he could do nothing about the speculation over the return of the popular Lippi.
“Seriously you’ve been writing about his return for two weeks,” he told journalists at a press conference in Italy’s base near Vienna.
“Hence since I arrived here I decided not to read the comments, neither the positive nor the negative ones.
“With respect to those who should decide I’m not going to try to sway them. My record speaks for itself, I’m not going to try to talk it up.”
