World Cup winning Coach Marcello Lippi acknowledges he was “terribly wrong” to step down as Italy CT after lifting that trophy.
The legendary Coach led the Azzurri to glory in Germany in 2006, but he resigned immediately after before returning for a disastrous second spell which ended in a group stage exit at the 2010 World Cup.
“I won everything I dreamed of winning and more,” Marcello Lippi told Corriere dello Sport.
“I got it terribly wrong once. I shouldn't have left the national team, and I should never have come back.
“I came back solely because I was wrong to leave after winning the World Cup, so I didn’t make one serious mistake but two.
“In South Africa was the third. When I was making my choices gratitude prevailed, and I realized too late that some players had given all they had.
“I also had a lot of bad luck because I lost [Gianluigi] Buffon, [Andrea] Pirlo and half De Rossi, half because Daniele had a calf problem.”
Marcello Lippi, born 12 April 1948 is an Italian former professional football player and current manager of the China national team.
He served as Italian national team head coach from 16 July 2004 to 12 July 2006 and led Italy to win the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
Marcello Lippi was re-appointed as Italian national team head coach in the summer of 2008 and was succeeded by Cesare Prandelli after the disappointing performance in the 2010 FIFA World Cup .
Lippi is regarded as one of the greatest and most successful managers in football history, and in 2007, The Times included him on its list of the top 50 managers of all time.
Throughout his career as a manager he won one World Cup title, five Serie A titles, and three Chinese Super League titles, one Coppa Italia, one Chinese FA Cup, four Italian Super-cups, one UEFA Champions League, one AFC Champions League,one UEFA Super Cup and one Intercontinental Cup;
He is the first and to date the only coach to win both the UEFA Champions League and the AFC Champions League
Lippi was named the world's best football manager by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) both in 1996 and 1998, and world's best National coach in 2006.
Marcello Lippi is the first coach to have won the most prestigious international competitions both for clubs in different continents,
and for national teams (the UEFA Champions League and the Intercontinental Cup in 1996 with Juventus;
the AFC Champions League in 2013 with Guangzhou; and the FIFA World Cup in 2006 with Italy).