The 13th of November 2017 remains one of the lowest points in the history of Italian football. That was the day when Italy failed to reach the 2018 World Cup, after being eliminated by Sweden in the playoffs of the European qualifiers.

The Scandinavians won the first leg at home 1-0, and managed to force a goalless draw in the second leg to book their spot in Russia.

Giampiero Ventura was the coach at the time, and his questionable tactical decisions rendered him a hated man around the peninsula.

When the Azzurri were desperate for a goal, the former Torino manager wanted to introduce Daniele De Rossi – a defensive midfielder – whilst leaving the likes of Lorenzo Insigne on the bench.

Although theses decisions reportedly sparked a mutiny, some of the players who were present at the time explain that such an incident never occurred.

De Rossi, in fact, was caught on camera apparently refusing to come in, but the former Roma captain explains what exactly happened.

“The camera moved away, but after that moment, I did resume warming up. It’s not as if I refused to play.

“At that moment, we were all terrorized of going out, we had to score a goal, we had to win, so putting on a midfielder like me to score was frankly not a great idea,” said the retired player to Rai Uno as translated by Football Italia.

“Unfortunately, it ended the way it ended and that was my last game for the Nazionale.”

Juventus winger Federico Bernardeschi also gave his output on the situation.

“I knew going into that game that we were not ready for a game like that and a situation like that. We didn’t have the right atmosphere in the group, there were some who were more involved than others.

“There wasn’t much cohesion or clarity, it was a murky situation.”

For his part, Gianluigi Buffon explains that the players were responsible for the result as well.

“There was no mutiny. Let’s not forget, we are players there to represent a nation, not to represent ourselves or a coach. The coach gives directions, he drives the car, but we are there to give our professionalism and do our best.”

Finally, Chelsea midfielder Jorginho proclaimed his regret to see Buffon’s illustrious Italy career ending with tears.

“One of the visions I will never forget is Buffon crying on the field, because it was his last game for Italy and it ended like that. That was tough.”