Des Norris

Former pupil of Gian Piero Ventura, Christian Vieri, put the scapegoating of the recently-sacked Italian manager into perspective on Wednesday's The XTRA.

After failing to take Italy to the 2018 World Cup, the 69-year-old refused to step down despite widespread calls for his resignation, leading FIGC president Carlo Tevecchio to terminate his contract on Wednesday.

Prior to being dismissed, however, Ventura was recorded saying: "I still had some of the best results of the last 40 years. I lost just two games."

Vieri, having played under Ventura as a teenager at Venezia, expressed sympathy towards his former boss for the manner in which journalists had been demanding for the under-fire Gli Azzurri manager to step down when he made the ill-advised comments.

Nevertheless, the former Inter, Juve and Atletico Madrid striker also outlined the devastating effect not being in a World Cup for the first time since 1958 will have on his fellow Italians: "Italy has soccer and spaghetti. That's all we've got!"