MILAN (AP) — Inter Milan defender Alessandro Bastoni was having a bad month even before he became the face of Italy’s latest failure to qualify for the World Cup.
Bastoni had already been getting booed regularly in Italy over his role in another sending-off, and the jeers aren’t likely to stop after his straight red card in Tuesday’s game against Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Azzurri went on to lose a penalty shootout to miss out on a third straight World Cup.
The 26-year-old Bastoni was silent, dejected and downcast as he arrived back in Milan in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Bastoni was the last player to emerge from the terminal at Malpensa Airport, walking out on his own after his teammates had already got into waiting cars.
Italy had been leading Tuesday’s playoff final 1-0 when Bastoni’s ill-timed challenge shortly before halftime cost his team dearly. A poor goal kick from goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma was intercepted and with Amar Memic racing towards goal, Bastoni recklessly slid in and brought down the Bosnia forward from behind.
A straight red card was inevitable and Bastoni didn’t even protest, sitting on the field with his head bowed as he realized what he had done. Italy had to play the rest of the game with 10 men, including the 30 minutes of extra time after Bosnia’s late equalizer.
While Italy coach Gennaro Gattuso didn’t go as far as to blame Bastoni, he called his players heroes and when asked if he had any regrets, he replied: “I regret Bastoni’s chase. Maybe we could have chased in a better way.”
Italian pundits, fans and media were much more critical, with some pointing the finger of blame directly at Bastoni.
“Bastoni’s 2026 is a disaster,” stated an article in Italy’s leading sports newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport, before describing the red card as “an error that only fuels the debate on Bastoni’s state of form and on his mental stability in moments of maximum pressure.”
Even before the game, there had been calls in Italy for the Inter center back to be dropped from the national squad following an incident while playing for his club on Feb. 14 in a match against fierce rival Juventus.
Bastoni caused widespread outrage when he went down under a tackle by Pierre Kalulu, leading to a second yellow card for the Juventus defender. Television replays showed that Bastoni had clearly dived in an attempt to get his opponent sent off but as the incident was not a direct red card, the video assistant referee could not intervene or overturn the decision.
Bastoni’s wild celebrations at Kalulu’s second yellow card added to the furor — something he later apologized for. However, the damage was done, with the player and his family being on the receiving end of a wave of vitriol and abuse on social media.
Bastoni has been loudly jeered by opposition fans in every stadium since then. He is unlikely to get a better reception in the coming weeks.
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