French full of excuses, says Italy´s Panucci

Italian defender Christian Panucci on Friday said France coach Raymond Domenech, who criticised the referee after his side’s loss to the Italians, “always has excuses”.

Domenech was furious that Italy were awarded a penalty and the French had Eric Abidal sent off in the process as they slid to a a 2-0 defeat which saw Italy win their re-run of the World Cup final.

But Panucci told a press conference in Baden the French handler’s complaints were only par for the Domenech course.

“It’s best not to comment on these kinds of declarations. But if I am forced to I’d say he was watching another match or didn’t get a good view” of what happened.

“He always has excuses, going back to the time when he lost the Euro youth tournament to us in 1994. It’s true, though, that the French were unlucky to lose (Franck) Ribery,” who went off injured after just nine minutes.

But Panucci concluded that the French had to recognise that “Italy simply played a great match.”