31.01.2018 14:48 h

Disgraced Ventura eager to return coaching

Humiliated former Italy coach Gian Piero Ventura, sacked after the four-time World Cup winners failed to reach the 2018 tournament in Russia, has revealed he wants to return coaching.

"I've just returned from something that was bigger than me and I paid violently," Ventura, whose qualifying fiasco saw Italy miss a first World Cup since 1958, was quoted as saying in La Repubblica newspaper.

"My father taught me never to give up and three months can not cancel thirty-five years," he continued. "I have a fierce desire to start again for a simple reason, I need to give answers now and I want to give them."

Ventura took over the national team when Antonio Conte left to coach Chelsea in 2016.

The 70-year-old had never managed a major club, having previously coached Udinese, Cagliari, Napoli, Messina, Verona, Pisa, Bari and Torino.

Italy were forced into the play-offs against Sweden after finishing second behind Spain in qualifying, a campaign which also saw them humbled 3-0 by Spain in Madrid.

"My adventure was over a minute after losing in Spain," he said. "In football there is never a single person who wins, but nor is there a single person who loses.

"Now I have to and I want to give answers and from here I'll start again, without certainties.

"I don't like the past, I live in the future and my coaching job starts now."