Italy striker Graziano Pelle has apologised for his penalty miss in Saturday night’s defeat to Germany.
Antonio Conte’s side were eliminated at the quarter-final stage, with Pelle among seven players to fail from the spot as Germany won 6-5 in the shootout.
Pelle gestured towards Manuel Neuer before attempting his kick, but has insisted he did not intend to offend the Germany goalkeeper.
As reported by Goal, Pelle said: “It is not important to me now that it was a good tournament for Italy overall. I am very sad and I would like to apologise to all of Italy. I want to say sorry to my team-mates, to the coach, to the fans and to anyone else who wished me the best.
“I had just one job and that was to score the penalty. I would have become a phenomenon had I done that. I was a nobody when I arrived at the Euros and I am still a nobody now. But I have always given my all for the jersey of Italy.
“I did not want to disrespect Neuer. I wanted to deceive him. I saw that he dived before the penalty takers had hit their shot and he seemed to be flying to the corners. I tried to make him stay in the middle of his goal a bit longer by making the Panenka-gesture.”
Pelle featured prominently at Euro 2016 and scored two goals in four games, but joined Simone Zaza, Leonardo Bonucci and Matteo Darmian in missing from 12 yards.
The striker will now be afforded a period of rest before returning to Southampton in preparation for the new Premier League campaign.
Southampton have brought in Nathan Redmond from Norwich City but have seen forward Sadio Mane depart for Liverpool in a reported £34 million deal.
New manager Claude Puel will face the task of following Southampton’s sixth- placed finish achieved in the Premier League last season under his predecessor Ronald Koeman.
Saints get their Premier League campaign underway on August 13 with a home game against Watford.
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