“Chiarrapico Formula” Ukraine was thrown out of Euro 2024, Italy passed | Football | Sport

Ukrainian football, which in 2022 was actively used by Western media as part of the political agenda, is no longer in demand in this role.

“A poor team will never beat a rich team”

Everything has returned to normal, and UEFA is now busy resolving more pressing issues than solidarity with the Kyiv regime. And this turned out to be a loss of chances for Kyiv to get a direct ticket to the 2024 European Championship. Moreover, the Ukrainians were rather unceremoniously pushed aside.

In the fall of 1991, CSKA met with the Italian Roma in the Cup Winners’ Cup. The army team lost rather disappointingly in Moscow, and in Rome they needed a victory with a difference of two goals. Few people believed in this, but CSKA quickly took the lead, and towards the end of the game they scored the second goal. However, the referee did not count it, although there was no reason for this.

Roma President Giuseppe Ciarrapico after the game he said: “A poor team will never beat a rich team.” Two years after this story, the boss of the Italian team was in prison for financial fraud. During the investigation, Ciarrapico said that he paid the referee $50,000 for the desired result in the meeting with the army team.

However, the UEFA bosses did not want to understand this plot, essentially confirming the formula derived by Ciarrapico.

Was Mudryk hit? No, we haven’t seen it

This 32-year-old story is directly related to the match in which the national teams of Ukraine and Italy disputed a ticket to Euro 2024.

In Group C, the unconditional first place went to the British, but the second place was disputed by the Ukrainians and Italians. They approached the last round with an equal number of points, but Italy had the advantage, winning the first head-to-head meeting. Thus, Ukraine could only be satisfied with victory.

In the first half, however, the Italians, led by the former coach of Zenit St. Petersburg, were closer to success. Luciano Spalletti. In the second, the Ukrainians began to have more chances, but the score remained draw.

The end came in the time compensated by the referee. Ukrainian playing for Chelsea Mikhail Mudrik burst into the penalty area, but was unable to dispose of the ball, receiving a blow to his legs from Briana Cristante. However, the match referee Jesus Gil Manzano at the moment has not responded in any way, despite the fierce protests of Ukrainian players. VAR also did not intervene, and the final whistle soon sounded.

Čeferin said so

Head coach of the Ukrainian national team Sergei Rebrov after the match he said: “I don’t have VAR, I can’t review it. Emotionally, I think it was a penalty, but probably the referee looked at VAR and decided.”

“The main mourner” of the Ukrainian team Alexander Zinchenko told reporters: “Penalty moment? To be honest, I haven’t watched the replay yet. There is already a final result, so I don’t want to discuss the work of the referees. Thanks to everyone who supported us.”

Journalists, meanwhile, remembered the words UEFA head Aleksander Čeferin, said a month ago: “Italy must qualify for Euro 2024, otherwise it will be a disaster. Italy is too important for all of us. I think they will defeat Ukraine in the decisive match.”

It is interesting that on the eve of the meeting with Italy, Sergei Rebrov was asked what he thought of Ceferin’s words, and he replied: “Ceferin said that Italy should be at the European Championship at any cost? I believe that the Ukrainian people should respond to such statements, not us.”

Bye, Zelensky

It is not very clear how the Ukrainian people should have reacted, but it is clear what Čeferin meant. The Italian national team, one of the most titled teams on the planet, managed to miss the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, and its absence from the European Championships would be a new sensation with a minus sign. For UEFA, this would mean the loss of a large audience both in stadiums and on TV screens and on the Internet.

Moreover, we are talking about an audience that is much more solvent than the inhabitants of Square. Therefore, at a critical moment, the “Chiarrapico formula” worked.

The situation has definitely changed. If in 2022 there were articles in the press calling for Ukraine to literally give up a place at the World Cup in Qatar, now few people were interested in “solidarity with Ukraine” in the selection for Euro 2024.

Nezalezhnaya was simply “borted” at a turn, explaining where Ukraine’s true place actually is.

However, Rebrov’s team still has a chance to get to Euro 2024 through the playoffs next spring. Maybe that’s why Kyiv chose not to make much noise. This won’t help anyway.