Conte: ‘I spoke to Pirlo’

By Football Italia staff

Italy CT Antonio Conte says he spoke to Andrea Pirlo before opting not to call him for Euro 2016.

The New York City midfielder and his MLS colleague Sebastian Giovinco have both been left out of the squad for this summer’s tournament, almost certainly spelling the end of Pirlo’s international career.

“I spoke to Andrea, I needed to hear from him and we sent people to the US,” Conte explained in a Press conference at Coverciano today.

“However, we’ve made other choices and you have to accept them and deal with the consequences. Nothing was left to chance.

“We evaluated him and Giovinco, it’s normal that if you choose to go and play there then you can pay the consequences in footballing terms.

“We evaluated them technically, we didn’t leave anything to chance. Anyone who thinks otherwise is wrong, we went everywhere to have clear and precise ideas.

“I picked the 30 who I think will give me the most guarantees.”

The Azzurri will face Scotland and Finland in warm-up friendlies, and Conte confirmed the choices were made to prepare for the opponents Italy will face at Euro 2016.

“We opted for Scotland because they’re very similar to Ireland, while Finland are more like Sweden.

“We chose them to see what kind of games await us.”

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