{"id":6072,"date":"2026-04-11T21:35:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T21:35:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/6072\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T21:35:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T21:35:18","slug":"pio-esposito-felt-crushed-after-italy-penalty-miss-and-wants-to-improve-his-english-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/6072\/","title":{"rendered":"Pio Esposito \u2018felt crushed\u2019 after Italy penalty miss and wants to \u2018improve\u2019 his English"},"content":{"rendered":"

Inter talent Francesco Pio Esposito felt \u2018crushed\u2019 after missing a penalty kick for Italy in the World Cup play-off Final against Bosnia and Herzegovina and opens up about his off-the-field activities: \u2018I\u2019ve been working with a sports psychologist, and I\u2019ve started an English course.\u2019<\/p>\n

Pio Esposito breaks silence on Italy\u2019s penalty miss<\/p>\n

Italy international Pio Esposito spoke for the first time about the Azzurri\u2019s World Cup play-off elimination in an interview with Corriere della Sera<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The 20-year-old was the first one to show up from the spot in the penalty shootout, but sent his shot over the crossbar.<\/p>\n

\u201cI struggled to process the disappointment right away. I was staring at a fixed point and couldn\u2019t understand what had happened. I felt crushed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thought was that I had let down my teammates, the people at home, friends and family. I\u2019ll take penalties again, I\u2019ll score some and miss some. That day, I was convinced I\u2019d take the responsibility of going first. I felt confident, but then it went badly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw a team that gave everything, for the most part, down to ten men, creating several chances,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt wasn\u2019t enough, and it\u2019s not enough. Italy has the obligation to qualify for the World Cup, and we have to take responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

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ZENICA, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA \u2013 MARCH 31: Francesco Pio Esposito of Italy shows reacts during the FIFA World Cup 2026 European Qualifiers KO play-offs match between Bosnia & Herzegovina and Italy at Stadion Bilino Polje on March 31, 2026 in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. (Photo by Getty Images\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Pio Esposito, a product of the Inter academy, has scored nine goals and provided six assists in 41 appearances across all competitions this season, his first one in Serie A.<\/p>\n

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He has reunited with Cristian Chivu, one of his former coaches in the Nerazzurri youth sector and is working on his development, both on and off the pitch.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a few months now, I\u2019ve been working with a sports psychologist,\u201d said Pio Esposito.<\/p>\n

\u201cI open up, and he gives me practical advice. He helps me a lot, and I enjoy going deeper.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter matches, I don\u2019t sleep at all because of the adrenaline. I stay with the people I care about, I don\u2019t play PlayStation, and now I\u2019ve started an English course. I want to improve it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Nerazzurri beat Roma 5-2 on Sunday and are the Serie A table leaders with a seven-point lead over Napoli.<\/p>\n

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However, their captain and best scorer, Lautaro Martinez, has suffered another muscular injury and is expected to miss two weeks of action.<\/a><\/p>\n

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MILAN, ITALY \u2013 APRIL 05: Lautaro Martinez of Inter celebrates scoring his team\u2019s first goal during the Serie A match between FC Internazionale and AS Roma at Giuseppe Meazza Stadium on April 05, 2026 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe needed a convincing performance like that [against Roma], in addition to the win. There\u2019s optimism, and we fully believe in it,\u201d Pio concluded.<\/p>\n

\u201cLautaro is very complete, but what excites you is his passion and hunger. Even in training, he plays as if it were a World Cup Final.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Inter talent Francesco Pio Esposito felt \u2018crushed\u2019 after missing a penalty kick for Italy in the World Cup…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6073,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1179,61,4563,44,5,3146,117,173,4562],"class_list":{"0":"post-6072","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-italy","8":"tag-as-roma","9":"tag-bosnia-and-herzegovina","10":"tag-english-course","11":"tag-inter","12":"tag-italy","13":"tag-lautaro-martinez","14":"tag-napoli","15":"tag-pio-esposito","16":"tag-sports-psychologist"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6072\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}