🚨 Breaking: Spalletti announces his sacking from the Azzurra
Luciano Spalletti has just announced his dismissal as the Italian national team coach.
In the press conference before the match against Moldova, and following the 0-3 defeat against Norway in the World Cup qualifiers, the former Scudetto champion with Napoli announced that the Italian federation has decided to dismiss him, contrary to the resignation rumors that had been circulating in the media earlier.
The defeat against Haaland's team has left Italy on the brink of missing the next tournament, which has accelerated the decision by the federation's executives who are eager to avoid a third consecutive absence from the World Cup.
There is speculation that Claudio Ranieri, who recently left AS Roma, could be Spalletti's successor as the national team coach.
Advertisement
Spalletti's departure marks the end of an era in which he attempted to rebuild the team following the disappointing elimination from the last EURO.
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.
📸 ERIK FLAARIS JOHANSEN

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

Wall Street Journal
an hour ago
- Wall Street Journal
Carlos Alcaraz Outlasts Jannik Sinner in French Open Final for the Ages
Paris The match clock had ticked into a fifth hour and the stadium shadows crept all the way across the clay when the Roland-Garros crowd came to a collective realization. Here, on the edge of Paris, they were watching one of the greatest Grand Slam finals in tennis history. Everyone already knew that Italy's Jannik Sinner and Spain's Carlos Alcaraz were the top two players on the planet. Not only did they have the No. 1 and No. 2 rankings to prove it, but they had also shared seven of the past eight major titles. These were men in the process of defining a new era for the sport. What they hadn't done until Sunday was meet with a major trophy on the line. Once it finally happened, though, they made the spectacle last for a staggering 5 hours and 29 minutes. With a tornado of a comeback, Alcaraz pulled off the unthinkable. He rallied from two sets down for the first time in his career, doggedly saved three championship points, and defended the French Open title he'd won in Paris a year ago. The 4-6, 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(3), 7-6(2) victory means that Alcaraz, still only 22, is a five-time major champion. The only active man ahead of him on the all-time list is 24-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic. More than once on Sunday, Alcaraz had seemed destined for a trademark Sinner dissection. With surgical precision, the Italian had punished him with a break in the first set and held his nerve through a tiebreak in the second. But the longer the match dragged on, the looser Alcaraz became. He took risks, invented new angles, ran down every ball. 'Most of the time,' Alcaraz had said before the match, 'it's just about suffering.' It wasn't quite the longest Grand Slam final in tennis history—that still belongs to Djokovic's 5-hour, 53-minute win over Rafa Nadal in Australia in 2012—but it was every bit as grueling. Two years ago, Alcaraz's body had gone to pieces in a semifinal here against Djokovic as full-body cramping caused him to withdraw in the third set. The physical breakdown had been due to stress, he said at the time. He vowed to work on his stamina and his mentality to make sure it never happened again. So as Sunday's comeback began to materialize, and as Sinner's cool precision began to desert him, Alcaraz was prepared. There had been a few longer contests in his young career—including a 5-hour, 15-minute epic against Sinner at the 2022 U.S. Open—but never anything like this, on the most physically punishing surface in tennis. Professionals love to repeat it: There are no free points on clay. Serves are dampened, rallies are longer, and, as the temperature cools, the ball turns into a kettlebell. Alcaraz, who was practically born on this surface, never wavered. Over the third and fourth sets, he hit 27 winners to Sinner's 16 and cut down on his unforced errors—he had committed 37 in the first two sets alone. That's also when Sinner's serve fell apart. Against any other opponent, Sinner attempting to close out the match at 5-3 would have been one of the surest bets in tennis. But with the crowd firmly on his side, Alcaraz had nothing left to lose. He won 13 of the next 14 points to take a 6-5 lead, before tying the match at two sets apiece in a tiebreak. The fans felt the shift in momentum. They marked it by chanting, 'Sí, se puede.' To Sinner, the scenario wasn't entirely unfamiliar. He had been on the other end of a five-set comeback in a major final before. Just last year, he was the one who fought his way out of a 2-0 hole against Daniil Medvedev to win the Australian Open. But that match wasn't nearly as long—and Medvedev didn't have Alcaraz's endurance. In contests that lasted over four hours, Sinner was 0-5 before Sunday. Sinner's run to the final had made it easy to forget that this has also been the most turbulent season of his young career. Shortly after the Australian Open, he agreed to serve a three-month ban for twice testing positive for a banned anabolic steroid in 2024. Sinner always insisted that the trace amount of clostebol had entered his system accidentally, but understood that he was ultimately responsible for what was in his body. The negotiated settlement also meant that he could accept the punishment without missing a Grand Slam. In May, he reached the final of the Italian Open, which he lost to Alcaraz. And by the time he arrived in Paris, he'd rediscovered his rhythm. 'He's very physical. He's very fit, and he's striking the ball incredibly well,' said Novak Djokovic after losing to Sinner in straight sets in the semifinal. 'Rarely he's off-balance, and he's just playing the tennis of his life.' Alcaraz was always going to be a different type of test. As one of the few men in tennis who is able to live with Sinner's breathless intensity, he pushed him in every rally. The first five games alone took 37 minutes and four of them went to deuce. But at 2-2, Alcaraz managed to break Sinner's serve, something that only Djokovic had managed over Sinner's previous five matches here. Sinner reacted right away and broke back immediately. After 43 minutes of this epic, they were only halfway through the first set. More than four hours later, Sinner and Alcaraz were still locked in the longest final in French Open history. And after the storm, Sinner showed signs of life late in the fifth to push the match into yet another tiebreak. But when it ended, after Alcaraz's 70th winner of the day, only the Spaniard was holding the trophy. Write to Joshua Robinson at
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
French Open men's final results: Carlos Alcaraz outlasts Jannik Sinner in grueling 5-hour match after stunning comeback
In an instant classic, Carlos Alcaraz bested Jannik Sinner in a grueling, thrilling match to win his second straight French Open title after a stunning comeback. After dropping the first two sets, Alcaraz defeated Sinner after five sets, five and a half hours and three tiebreaks, 4-6, 6(4)-7(7), 6-4, 7(7)-6(4), 7(10)-6(2). The matchup pitted the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds against one another in one of the wildest games in recent memory. Sinner dropped three championship points in the fourth set before Alcaraz was able force a deciding set; but in the fifth set, it was Sinner who completed the unlikely comeback. Advertisement In the end, though, it was Alcaraz who was able to come away with the trophy. The young Spaniard defeated Sinner in 10-2 in the fifth set tiebreak to win his fifth Grand Slam title. The two traded games throughout the first set, before Sinner broke through to take the 6-4 win. In the second set, the young Italian got off to a strong start, going up 4-1. But Alcaraz had a different idea, going on a roll to eventually tie Sinner at 5-5. Sinner then took the next game, but Alcaraz held on for an uncontested service game to force a tiebreak. After trading points to start the tiebreaker, Sinner eventually pulled ahead. But Alcaraz held off the set point with a few late points of his own, before Sinner was eventually able to pull out the tiebreak win. Advertisement The third set was all Alcaraz to start. Alcaraz, who had briefly lost the goodwill of the crowd, pulled them right back in with a number of excellent points. Though Sinner launched a late comeback of his own to keep the set alive, Alcaraz was able to hold on for a 6-4 win, in a sequence that mirrored the first the fourth set, things stayed as tight as ever. Alcaraz seemed to have a slight advantage early on, before Sinner came back for a late surge. However, with Sinner up 5-3, and the championship just in reach, Alcaraz fought back, winning the next three games to go up 6-5 and dash Sinner's hopes. Sinner dropped three consecutive match points before Alcaraz was able to push things into a deciding set. With the game entering its fourth hour, Sinner was able to force a deciding tiebreak, but Alcaraz pushed through to win the tiebreaker 7-3 and force a fifth set. In the fourth set, things stayed as tight as ever. Alcaraz seemed to have a slight advantage early on, before Sinner came back for a late surge. However, with Sinner up 5-3, and the championship just in reach, Alcaraz fought back, winning the next three games to go up 6-5 and dash Sinner's hopes. Sinner dropped three consecutive match points before Alcaraz was able to push things into a deciding set. Advertisement With the game entering its fourth hour, Sinner was able to force a deciding tiebreak, but Alcaraz pushed through to win the tiebreaker 7-3 and force a fifth set. Sinner looked fatigued at the start of the deciding set, as Alcaraz built up a small lead. But Sinner managed to get a second wind, pushing through to tie Alcaraz at 5-5. After Sinner took a 6-5 lead, Alcaraz tied things up again to force yet another tiebreak. And in the end, he was victorious, taking the win with an easy 10-2 tiebreaker victory.


Fox News
an hour ago
- Fox News
Carlos Alcaraz comes back to shock Jannik Sinner for French Open win
The French Open men's final came down to an epic between two of the top athletes in the sport on Sunday – Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. In what turned out to be one of the most exciting contests in sports this year, Alcaraz stormed back to defeat Sinner 4-6, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2). It appeared Sinner had the advantage early in the match. Sinner won the first set 6-4 and came away with a 7-6 win in set No. 2. But the momentum the Italian star built in the first two sets of the match appeared to fizzle away as Alcaraz came back stronger each time Sinner tried to put him away. Alcaraz took the third set, 6-4. Then, Sinner had a 5-3 advantage on Alcaraz in the fourth set but the Spanish star dug down deep and tapped into a different mentality. He came back to tie the set at six games apiece and then forced a tiebreaker in which he won 7-3. Alcaraz won the first game of the fifth set after a shot that landed close to the net on Sinner's side. All of the momentum seemingly shifted to Alcaraz as he took and maintained the lead. Sinner would not go quietly. Though he became frustrated in the middle of the set, he showed the crowd at Roland Garros why he was the No. 1 tennis player in the world. He hit an incredible shot close to the net that even Alcaraz couldn't reach. Alcaraz, despite having the serve, couldn't get the winner he needed. Sinner tied the set five games apiece. Sinner dug deep. Just when he could have let go of his grip on the tournament, he was back. He took a 6-5 lead after Alcaraz forced the game back to deuce. Incredible shot after incredible shot and it was Sinner who had the edge to what could-have been the deciding set. Not so fast, Alcaraz essentially said. He forced the deciding-set tiebreaker with an incredible backhand winner. The crowd watched with bated breath as the two tennis players continued to hit the ball back and forth on the iconic red clay. It took more than five hours to finally decide a winner. Alcaraz came through, winning the tiebreaker 10-2 and capturing the French Open title for the second straight year. This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.