Luciano Spalletti hinted that something has broken within the Italy camp and the FIGC, but if he has already decided to walk away, would it not be better to avoid a 48-hour whirlwind going into a fundamental match?

The Azzurri opened their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign with a damning 3-0 defeat in Norway last night and Spalletti’s words to the media pointed towards a critical moment.

“I have to talk to (FIGC President Gabriele) Gravina, something happened.”

That was already a pretty clear warning. Evidently, it was more ‘something broke’ rather than ‘something happened.’

Spalletti split with Italy is evident

It feels quite surreal to be going into this situation all the way to Monday evening, when the Nazionale will play Moldova in the second match of their World Cup qualifying campaign.

Situations off the field, which emerged ahead of the trip to Norway, might have created some turbulence that pushed Spalletti to come out into the open.

The question remains: if the coach has already decided to quit, would it not be better to avoid going into a media whirlwind for the next 48 hours with a fundamental match coming up?

Regardless of the names that have circulated on potential replacements, it remains a very delicate situation.