Bernardeschi and Insigne at Toronto organize the (failed) revolt against the coach – Corriere.it

From idol of the fans to player outside the squad. Federico Bernardeschi he’s not doing so well in Toronto, Canada, in the Mls. A disastrous situation emerges from the American championship for the team, last with three defeats and a draw in four games played, and off the field both for the former Fiorentina and former Juventus player and for Insigne, the other Italian in the squad.

The chaos in the locker room of the total Toronto. First of all there is the question linked precisely to Bernardeschi, fan idol and showman since he said goodbye to Italy to start this new adventure. The technician Bob Bradley he has put him out of the squad and therefore he will not be available for the fifth match, the one against DC United, scheduled for 1.30 on tonight 28 May, Italian time. The reason? The winger, who won the 2021 European Championships on penalties against England with Italy, seems to pay for the post-match statements with Austin. He had spoken of a team without a game idea, with players who didn’t know how to pass the ball. In reality, these words uncovered the discontent within Toronto. The coach himself first denied that it wasn’t a disciplinary move, then gave an explanation for what happened in recent days: There have been many things this week, many internal discussions. So thinking about getting the group ready for this match, I felt this was the best way to handle it.

But what is the former US coach talking about? According to reports from The Athletic on Monday May 22, two days after the loss to Austin in Texas, a group of senators in pink met by teleconference on the day off from training. The call included about ten players and was led by the two highest paid players on the team. That is Insigne and Bernardeschi, which would therefore be the two revolt leaders in question. And always according to The Athletic the objective of this call was force the ouster of Technician Bradley. The affair then widened the following day, with the resumption of training. From here there were meetings between the coach and the players (the captain of his son Michael, the former Roma player, and it doesn’t put anyone at ease in the locker room), with a request for clarification from Bernardeschi on what was said. The player would have let it be known that he had nothing to add, and then reiterated his criticisms in terms of play and tactical preparation, once the situation degenerated. The revolt seems to have been immediately put down by the coach with the decision to marginalize Bernardeschi.

Now the goal of Bradley restore vitality to Toronto, even if the glories of Giovinco, with the title won in 2017, seem really far away. It must be said that Insigne is not new to such situations. In Naples, at the time of Carlo Ancelotti, in 2019 there was a mutiny after the Champions League match against Salzburg. An error recognized by Insigne some time later in an interview given to Corriere della Sera: I wouldn’t make the same choice again – he said -, but now it is also useless to think about what could have been and was not. It was a mistake, we paid and luckily we recovered.