Juventus signing Simone Pepe has hit out at a cartoon depicting the Italy team in Azzurri coffins.

A cartoon by Il Giornale artist Giorgio Forattini that pictured a pitch with 11 coffins in Azzurri colours, laid out in a 4-3-3 formation.

"Whoever drew such a thing should be an undertaker," slammed Pepe. "I hope soon they get to build a coffin for him instead.

"Of course we are upset and disappointed, as going out of the World Cup in the first round was a sporting tragedy for us.

"I accept criticism, but depicting us in coffins on the front page of a newspaper is really going too far."