Gennaro Gattuso described Italy’s 5-4 victory over Israel as “the craziest game I’ve been involved in as a coach.”
In his second match in charge of the national team, Italy surpassed Israel in the World Cup Qualifier Group and took an important victory to help them move to second place.
Italy took a 4-2 lead through Giacomo Laspadri in the 81st minute, but after Israel leveled the score in the 89th minute, they still needed a stop-time winner from Sandro Tonari.
After a 5-0 victory over Estonia last week, Italy scored five goals in a row for the first time in history.
Gattuso admitted that Italy could be too broken when defending, but he praised his players’ desire to continue fighting for victory.
“It was a murder today,” Gatuso told Rai Sports and Sky Sports Italy.
“It’s the craziest game I’ve been involved in as a coach, but it’s my problem, not a player problem.
To kickstart the Gatuso era, you win 2 to 2 #isrita #azzurri #vivoazzurro pic.twitter.com/kylkjok74w
– Italy (@azzurri_en) September 8, 2025
“If you want to play in a certain way, you need to do this well. You could systematically proceed with the offense, that’s what Israel was waiting for. They hit us at the counter every time.
“We’re a crazy team. We’re so fragile, we’re easily acknowledged our ridiculous goals. Young people know that, but this is my problem, not their problem.
“We came from football on the bibliography, but we need to work on being our team first.
“While young people are always trusted to respond to every slap on their face, they can’t acknowledge their goals as easily as they do today.
“It’s not a criticism for the players. Me and my staff need to improve and tackle it as quickly as possible. This is a team that can’t be solid.”