De Rossi praises Gerrard, while the latter blames luck, yet Italy hit the woodwork twice

After England suffered yet another defeat against Italy, the protagonists of the game shared their impressions. Steven Gerrard was hurt emotionally, as the nation he failed to represent. Liverpool’s midfielder commented:

“We knew how [Italy] were going to play and they never surprised it’s really but it’s disappointing because we put so much into it and come away with nothing. We gave it everything we’ve got and were unlucky to get nothing out of it.”

Many English supporters blamed Hodgson for their national team's demise

Blaming luck for losing to Italy was maybe not as classy as one would expect from Gerrard, but very few players manage to be gracious in defeat, especially when the wound is still raw. However, after the Italians hit a post with Candreva, and an absolutely incredible crossbar with Pirlo, talking about the English being unlucky is borderline ridiculous.

It was a hard, yet expectable, hit for the representatives of the self-proclaimed best league in the World

Meanwhile, Roy Hodgson focused on the silver lining and believes that his nation can still make the knock-out phase. The English manager however, is aware that their path to the round of 16 will be extremely complicated and admitted that it won’t be easy. Hodgson stated:

“The main positive I can take is that it’s the best I have seen the team play in my time with them […] If you lose the first game you’ve got to win the next two,” he said. “There’s no way you can drift to qualification.”

According to most betting sites Italy was the favorite to win the clash against England

Cesare Prandelli on the other hand, praised England, but acknowledged that Italy were superior. The Italian coach said:

“We don’t have players who are as powerful as England so we had to enhance the abilities of our players. They have technical abilities that are really, really good.”

Wayne Rooney, who earns $18.1M a year, got shut down by Matteo Darmian, who makes 45 times less than the English striker

De Rossi also praised the English team, who tried to face Italy with courage, but fell short once again. Roma’s future captain revealed:

“It is never normal for me to play against Gerrard. It always gets me emotional, I won’t deny it. In my view if Balotelli learned to run into space and stretch out the team, he’d become unstoppable, because physically there are no defenders who can hold him.

Daniele De Rossi is one of the best defensive midfielders in the World