Rino Gattuso on Italy playing Israel: “If we don’t play, we lose 3–0” | OneFootball

Italy manager Gennaro Gattuso has confirmed that his team will have to play their upcoming World Cup qualifier against Israel, despite the difficult political and humanitarian situation.

Speaking at a press conference – via Calciomercato, Gattuso made it clear that the fixture cannot be avoided under current regulations.

“I’m a man of peace, but we have to play Israel because they’re in our group,” he said. “It hurts to see innocent people and children dying, but we have to take the field. If we don’t play, we lose 3–0.”

Gattuso explained that both he and the FIGC are aware of the emotional weight surrounding the game but stressed that sporting obligations must be respected. He also confirmed that federation president Gabriele Gravina is working to ensure the match can take place in Udine under the right conditions.

“I respect those who ask for reflection,” Gattuso added, “but our responsibility is to play and represent Italy.”

Further, the Italy boss said: “We’ll be going to Udine on Tuesday, we know there will be very few people there, and I understand the concern.”

“Given all this, we certainly can’t say the atmosphere is peaceful: there will be 10,000 people outside and 5,000 inside.”

There has a clamour to suspend Israel from taking part in FIFA competitions and there has clearly been some hypocrisy from the organisation’s part, considering how quickly Russia was excluded from playing the game right after their political tensions with Ukraine some years ago.

There has also been a pretention that politics and sport don’t go hand in hand but history shows that the two issues always are co-related.

Kaustubh Pandey I GIFN