Disappointment and regret. This was the general mood in the Azzurrini dressing room at the end of the match after defeat to Norway, which cost Paolo Nicolato's team their place in the tournament. No quarter-finals and no Olympics. The coach of Italy Under 21s, after the defeat against the Scandinavians, expressed his disappointment: "It was a strange match, in the first half we were good, then in the second half we conceded that goal and we started to struggle. It certainly didn't go the way we wanted. Honestly, I think the performance was there. Those who arrived from the senior national team did their bit, but even here the level is high, they are all quality players." When asked about the possible last match as coach of the Azzurrini he replied: "We have had a great run in any case, we will talk about these things in due time."

The first of the team to speak was Marco Carnesecchi, goalkeeper of the Azzurrini and maker of four great saves despite defeat: "Disappointment, bitterness, regret. We are very down in morale. We did not expect it. The saves mean nothing and the defence today was good in my opinion," explained the Atalanta goalkeeper, "but we didn't manage to score. This defeat hurts us a lot. We are very disappointed, because we wanted to go to the quarters. We wanted to do more."

Also in tears was Torino midfielder Samuele Ricci, elected MVP of the match by UEFA, but very bitter in his analysis: "Being the best on the pitch doesn't mean anything. The important thing was to get through. Today, we all had to do more. In the second half we started a bit sluggish and their subs caused us trouble. But we are Italy and we had to do more - insists the Azzurrini's 22 year old - The attitude when you wear this shirt must be better. We were a good group that could have played with everyone. The big moments went against us, I am very sorry because we all believed we could do this."

Nicolò Cambiaghi, who came on in the second half, shared similar disappointment. The Empoli forward had Italy's biggest chance in the second half, but failed to take it: "Huge disappointment for all of us, because going out in this way hurts. We did all we could to find an equaliser, but we didn't manage it. Overall we played three good games, but we lacked something. Mistakes on this stage are costly. The refereeing errors? They were there and we all saw them, but I am convinced we could have done much more. We didn't manage to do what we set out to do. The crossbar? I should have scored and it went too high. It hurts because it could have changed everything for us."