Italy legend Roberto Baggio has declared it 'shameful' that Italy did not automatically qualify for the Qatar World Cup owing to last summer's triumphant European Championship campaign.
Italy beat England on penalties at Wembley to win their first major tournament since 2006.
However, a disappointing end to qualifying followed and Italy ended up in a play-off tie with North Macedonia, having finished two points behind Switzerland.
After the Azurri missed a host of chances, including a penalty, the underdogs North Macedonia prevailed 1-0 in Palermo.
Speaking at an event from Rome, Baggio, who himself suffered World Cup final agony in 1994, labelled the situation surrounding Italy's non-appearance at November's World Cup finals 'shameful'.
He said: 'Italy won the European Championship, I think it’s shameful, it’s madness that they are not given an automatic berth to the World Cup for that,'
'Anyone can lose one game against anyone else on a bad day, but these lads deserve some sort of reward for what they achieved, don’t they? If I had been in that squad, I would’ve struggled to accept it,' he added.
Baggio, who made 56 appearances for the national team spanned across three decades, said the players' performance at Wembley for their Finalissma game against Argentina was down to the psychological impact of having missed out on Qatar qualification.
'I think Italy suffered psychological after-effects from the World Cup elimination. You can see it’s a psychological issue,' Baggio claimed.
'We saw last night, you just cannot compare the calm and confidence of the Argentina players to our current state of mind.'
Meanwhile, introspection is the name of the game when a major nation misses out on a tournament and Baggio alluded to the need for young players to be given more opportunities in Serie A.
A report by the CIES Football Observatory in 2018 found that Serie A had the second highest average age by team in all of the top divisions across Europe, second only to Cyprus.
Baggio said: 'Roberto Mancini did something extraordinary, he must be respected and allowed to continue working the way he has done. We have young talents who are not given room to play in Serie A and that is a well-known problem.'
The mercurial former Azurri star, who battled injuries throughout his career notably in his knees, offered encouragement to Roma starlet Nicolo Zaniolo who has suffered from similar issues.
'I hope he can recover fully, as unfortunately the injuries have really penalised him a great deal,' he said. 'The goal he scored in the Conference League Final can only boost his confidence and let him look to the future with less pressure.'
Utwo
1
Maybe in the future it might be a great idea. Champions of Europe, Asia, North America, Latin America and Africa shall play a small league and the one who win it shall qualify automatically. But this will mean it will have to start before qualifier play off.
Pipbelpty
0
Baggio being emotionally driven 😂😂😂😂😂😂
M4H1R
0
ur team and sh!t they couldnt even beat north macedonia, they would be out in the grp stages😭😭
M4H1R
0
Yes honestly speaking isn't the team that wins Euro automatically supposed to qualify for the WC, like the way the team that wins Europa League automatically qualifies for UCL?
most of the teams in ucl gain automatic qualification based on domestic performance, the world cup is different and should stay that way
Mangisha
2
that's not how it works
It used to be like that. But it has just changed now.
Mu18
0
Yes honestly speaking isn't the team that wins Euro automatically supposed to qualify for the WC, like the way the team that wins Europa League automatically qualifies for UCL?
that's not how it works
decklmrty
3
Then Senegal, and Argentina should have been given automatic qualifications, too. This is because Senegal won the African Nations Cup and Argentina won Copa America. What is he even thinking about? Is Europe the only continent that should be given preferential treatment? Mr. Baggio news to find another excuse. His point of argument is very poor.
kubbzjnr
1
what about winning Africa Cup
⚽CR7FOREVER⚽
3
world cup winner France is not given automatic qualification then how Euro winners will get it. Other than host all team should prove they are capable to challenge for world cup by qualification. Then according to Roberto winners of each continent cups should also get it.
QueriisFiasi
3
Is it even necessary to tell a former world cup finalist that there are qualifiers for a reason? They have to earn their place like every one else.
Mangisha
1
Yes honestly speaking isn't the team that wins Euro automatically supposed to qualify for the WC, like the way the team that wins Europa League automatically qualifies for UCL?
bikadikp
0
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