Italian defender Leonardo Bonucci has spoken about his country’s disastrous World Cup play-off exit at the hands of North Macedonia on Thursday.
Bonucci did not play in the 1-0 defeat as he was injured, but took to Instagram to assess the situation.
“The two emotions are polar opposites,” the Juventus centre-back posted.
“The great euphoria and joy of this summer countered by the disappointment and bitterness of this exclusion, made even worse by the face I was unable to help my teammates for those 90 minutes.
“Now it is the moment to look forward. This summer we took the praise and the credit for doing something unique, today we must take responsibility for not earning our place, which was more down to our own mistakes than the efforts of others.
“It is time for analysis, concrete and deep focus, to start again, to give Italy and the Italians what they deserve. We’ve already done it once.
“The climb back up has already begun, for me, for us. It will be a hard slog to get back to the top, but we have already proved we know how to do it. The future is now.”