AS Roma midfielder Daniele de Rossi denies hitting out at Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli in the aftermath of the World Cup. De Rossi scored for Italy in their friendly win over Holland last night.
Reflecting on the Balotelli furore, De Rossi insisted his words about new players not giving enough were twisted.
"That is not what I said, as I never mentioned young players. I said that in general we had to move forward with real men and real players who want to sacrifice themselves.
"I was the oldest on the field today, but they all worked hard and ran for the whole game. I don't think we need Conte to understand what the Nazionale means. If you don't understand what it means, then you don't belong here.
"When a player goes all over the world in his career, the Nazionale remains the most important thing.
"When I said you don't need Panini stickers I meant we didn't need half-players, but whole people. I had no idea Balotelli had that picture with the stickers, so the media put some meaning to my words that wasn't there.
"The fact people tried to find one, two or three targets did not sit well with me. The whole team deserved criticism at the World Cup and in order to begin again we needed the mentality we saw tonight."
