>Giorgio Chiellini has laid part of the blame for Italy's failure to qualify for the World Cup at the feet of Pep Guardiola , despite him never having managed a team in the country.
>Guardiola is on the cusp of leading Manchester City to the Premier League title having previously been successful at Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
>And speaking to the Daily Mail , Juventus defender Chiellini - who retired from international football after Italy failed to qualify for this summer's World Cup - feels as though the success and popularity of Guardiola's brand of football diluted what used to make Italy so feared, especially defensively.
>The Juventus defender - who won 96 caps for his country - said: “Pep Guardiola spoiled and ruined the Italian defender.
>“He is a fantastic coach with a fantastic mind but Italian trainers have tried to copy him without the same knowledge and then in the last 10 years, we lost our identity.
>“We lost our identity of [Paolo] Maldini, [Franco] Baresi, [Fabio] Cannavaro, [Alessandro] Nesta, [Giuseppe] Bergomi, [Claudio] Gentile, [Gaetano] Scirea... between 1984 and 1995, we have only [Leonardo] Bonucci.
>"In 10 years, we didn’t launch one good defender."
>Chiellini also stated that the shock of failing to qualify for their first World Cup since 1958 should be the catalyst for Italian football to change, and added that he won't watch the tournament in Russia.
>“I hope now we restart and relaunch Italian football," he continued. "The World Cup result is the proof of our problem.
>“Honestly, it (watching the World Cup) will be like a dagger in my stomach. It will not be a good month.
>"I will see bits and check the scores but I can’t imagine sitting at the TV to watch the World Cup at home.”
Is he right?
mirror.co.uk