Leonardo Bonucci apologises over dressing room chaos after play-off defeat

Leonardo Bonucci has apologised on behalf of the Italian national team after leaked photos showed the state they left their dressing room in after their play-off defeat to North Macedonia.

Photos circulating on social media showed empty plastic bottles, used tissues, food waste and cigarette butts left on the floor of the dressing room at Palermo’s Stadio Renzo Barbera. 

Italian players were frustrated after Aleksandar Trajkovski’s stoppage time winner ensured Italy will miss their second successive World Cup, while North Macedonia will face Portugal in a match to decide who will travel to Qatar.

Leonardo Bonucci has apologised after the state the Italian national team left their dressing room in after their loss to North Macedonia

Leaked photos showed the state of the dressing room at Palermo’s Stadio Renzo Barbera 

The state of the dressing room has led to even more criticism against the reigning European champions.

As reported by Football Italia, Bonucci said ahead of Italy’s game with Turkey on Tuesday: ‘It was a big mistake, next time, we’ll pay more attention.

‘We were very disappointed and we didn’t think that these details make the difference sometimes. We’ll pay more attention in the next matches, we apologise.’

Italy’s communication chief, Paolo Corbi, also apologised but stated the dressing room wasn’t left in as worse a condition as shown in the pictures.

He said: ‘It’s an aspect that we underestimated and we’ve already apologised to Palermo Calcio.

Despite winning last year’s Euro 2020, they have failed to make it to the World Cup for the second time in succession

‘We had to catch the flight for Coverciano and there was a huge disappointment even if, we must say, the state of the dressing room when we left was not exactly the one shown in the video. It was not all down to us.’

Italy’s defeat comes as a surprise after their success at Euro 2020 where they beat England on penalties to win the championship last summer. 

They were comfortably expected to make it to the World Cup in Qatar, only to finish second in their group behind Switzerland and get knocked out by North Macedonia.

Plastic bottles, tissues, food waste and cigarette butts were left lying around on the floor

Bonucci said: ‘The hours after the eliminations have been tough. We remained quiet during our moments together, like team lunches or dinners. That was the most challenging part.

‘We tried to play down the disappointment by saying that young players will have other opportunities, while the older ones like myself only had one last chance.

‘After the coach spoke to us, we put the past behind our shoulders and we re-connected with the future. The future is now so we must start again to rebuild and get what we didn’t achieve. We have a solid base to come back.’