Giorgio Chiellini reflected on the difficult conditions Italy played out their semi-final with Spain in, but reflected his team should have won.
“We are disappointed by the result, as we had confidence and knew the Euro 2012 Final was not really us,” reflected Chiellini post-match to Rai Sport.
“It was affected by a crazy fixture list, as you can’t have three days to recover from a semi-final to a Final.
“We were confident we’d have a good game and in all honesty it went better than expected, as if there was a team that should’ve won tonight it was us.
“There are regrets, as we should have been 2-0 up by half-time. Obviously as the energy levels drop and fatigue sets in, you can get sliced apart by players like Andres Iniesta, especially when losing Andrea Barzagli to injury.
“In extra time I couldn’t wait for it to end, as I was wrecked. The heat was incredible, we were struggling to breathe and could barely finish the match.
“It’s a shame and we go out with heads held high, but Spain should’ve been in that position rather than us. At the moment all we feel is frustration.
“We were aware Spain were strong, but also aware that we could hurt them. Spain were frightened after the break and didn’t press us anymore, as they were afraid of our counters.
“We didn’t play catenaccio, as we created several scoring opportunities and moved the ball around well.”
Chiellini also reflected on Leonardo Bonucci’s penalty miss, which proved the only one in the 14-penalty shootout.
