At the pre-match press conference for Bosnia and Herzegovina's match against Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina forward and captain Edin Dzeko once again addressed the incident where Italian players celebrated upon learning they would face Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Dzeko said: “We all saw what happened. To be honest, I think it's perfectly normal. As I said before, everyone has their own preferences. Maybe my preference is not to face Italy in this final. I can't celebrate because I'm playing against them. But obviously, in the era of social media, you have to be careful now—everything gets amplified, and this incident is no exception.”
“We all saw it. The Italian team didn't want to go to Wales to play, I don't know why. We went there without fear and won. I don't understand why Italy should be afraid of Wales or Bosnia and Herzegovina. They are an amazing national team, four-time World Cup winners. If they are afraid to play in Wales, that doesn't seem right.”
“Maybe we can also understand it this way: they may be under pressure in this match. After missing two consecutive World Cups, they are under a lot of pressure. That means they are afraid. Federico Dimarco sent me a message saying he didn't mean to offend anyone, and I replied to him: 'What's there to talk about?' There are no issues at all.”
