Arsenal international admits boos after recent defeat ‘hurt’

Arsenal’s Riccardo Calafiori has admitted he was ‘hurt’ by the boos from Italy fans following their defeat to Belgium, and he’s vowed to do better.

Arsenal defender Riccardo Calafiori put in a decent performance for Italy in their opening game of the international break against Belgium, but he ended up on the losing side of a 2-0 result.

To rub salt in the wound, the Italy fans at the Stadio Olimpico booed the team off the pitch at the final whistle.

It’s been a poor period for Italy since the Euro 2020 success, having failed to qualify for two World Cups and going out of Euro 2024 at the round-of-16 stages. The supporters are clearly starting to lose patience now, but Calafiori believes the team are just getting going under new management.

Asked about the boos, Calafiori said: “They hurt, because at times I felt the passion of the crowd. We’ve got to do better, we all know that, starting from the next match.

“I saw a good team in fits and starts. We’ve just started working with a new coach, but other areas I didn’t like, we left gaps and conceded two avoidable goals. We must try to look on the positive aspects.

“There is a lot of work to do, we’ve just started with a new coach, so we’ll see.”

Italy have no time to lick their wounds, as they have three more games to come over the September-October break. They travel to Turkiye for a match on Monday night, then France for a game on Friday, before wrapping things up back at home to Turkiye next Monday.

Perhaps it’s a good thing the team will have the chance to make amends over the next couple of games before facing their home support again.

Though if things go badly between now and then, it might start to get ugly.

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