Roberto Mancini apologises for walking down tunnel during Saudi Arabia’s defeat and explains reason for early exit

Roberto Mancini has taken to social media to publicly apologise for his early exit at the Asian Cup.

The Saudi Arabia manager was bizarrely seen walking down the tunnel before his side’s last 16 penalty shoot-out against South Korea had ended.

The match had finished 1-1 after extra time, and Mancini then had to witness two of his players miss their spot-kicks, setting up Hee-chan Hwang for the winning penalty.

But before the Wolves forward had even tucked his effort away, the former Italy and Manchester City manager was off to the dressing room.

Speaking post-match, Mancini was asked about his disappearance, and said: “I apologise for this because I thought it was finished, I didn’t want to disrespect anyone.”

Mancini’s excuse didn’t go down to well, though, with the president of the Saudi Football Federation calling his exit ‘unacceptable’.

“The coach’s exit is completely unacceptable, and we will discuss with him why this happened,” Yasser al-Misehal said.

“He has the right to explain his point of view, and then we will decide the appropriate action.”

In an effort to apologise further, Mancini took to social media a day after the event.

“I’m really thankful to our brave players who showed resilience and character in a very tough game, they gave everything,” he began. 

“Huge thanks to our fans who made an amazing atmosphere yesterday. We worked hard to go very far in this tournament but fell short.

“Again I reiterate my apology to everyone for my early exit to the dressing room before the end of the penalty shootout.

“With your support and trust we continue to build for the future of Saudi football.”

The last 16 exit sees Saudi match their performance in 2019, but fail to reach the heights of 2007 and 2004 when they were runners-up, after their three championships in 1984, 1988 and 1996.