Meret: 6. Immediately alert at the start on Rodrygo, he stands out with other good saves also in the second half. Perhaps Vinicius fools him too easily on the occasion of the 1-1, then he is very unlucky on the goal that decides the match: a stone from Valverde that hits the crossbar and therefore his back, ending up in the net.
By Lorenzo: 5. A bad vote that makes the news.
Not so much for the performance itself, which overall remains excellent with a lot of running and good will, as well as good numbers, but for the serious error that opens the doors to the Bellingham-Vinicius duo to make it 1-1 and cut the legs off the Azzurri.
Ostigard: 6,5. Ups and downs: definitely better as an "attacker" than as a defender. Up front he opens the scoring as a predator in the penalty area and almost scores a brace in the 95th minute.
He fights in the back, but Vinicius and Bellingham easily get around him in the two goals. He wins all the aerial duels, 4 out of 4.
Nathan: 6,5. He immediately put his foot in the net for the 1-0, towering over Carvajal.
Great precision in the build-up phase, he also recovers many balls and blocks a series of dangerous shots from his area: one intervention, in particular, on Vinicius in the second half is gigantic.
Olivera: 6. In the first half he struggles in the defensive phase, he immediately takes a few hits in those parts. He takes the measure as the minutes pass, he starts strong also with a series of full-field percussions on the wing and also fixes the shortcomings initially shown in the back lines (from the 88th minute Mario Rui: sv).
Anguissa: 5,5. He starts off on the right foot, but as the minutes pass his race becomes too slow and anonymous.
Even physically he seemed less brilliant than in recent weeks: he lost many ground duels (he won just 5 out of 13), and all the aerial duels. Bellingham sowed him on the slalom for 2-1 (from the 88th minute Simeon: sv).
Lobotka: 5. A few too many defensive shortcomings unlike the last few outings.
At the start Rodrygo runs away too easily, then there is the mistake by Di Lorenzo who was looking for him right in the three-quarter line in the action of the equaliser by Vinicius, very passive on the giant slalom by Bellingham which is worth the encore shortly after (from 88' Cajuste: sv).
Zielinski: 7. His was the cross on the corner for 1-0 and the pass to Osimhen who then earned the penalty for 2-2. Needless to say, he was the one who then scored perfectly despite a ball as heavy as a boulder.
Shortly after he also had the chance to score the third goal, but Kepa was good at blocking it (from 75' Raspadori: sv).
politan: 6,5. Lively on the right, during the first half he is good at creating several dangerous situations for his teammates. At the end of the half he finds Osimhen out of nowhere with a soft cross, then the Nigerian fails to beat Kepa.
He doesn't disdain a few attempts towards the goal, but they are not very effective (from 69' Elmas: sv).
osimhen: 6. The spark was missing. He had his biggest chance at the end of the half: one of his headers, but he couldn't angle it enough despite the excellent movement.
He still earns the penalty with another good move in the penalty area and is lucky with the rebound that ends up on Nacho's high hand.
Kvaratskhelia: 6. In the first half he creates little or nothing from his area, but in the second half he grows and becomes decidedly more dangerous. He doesn't find the right spark to cause harm: he gives the illusion with a nice conclusion from outside, then shortly after there is the regret for the chance cut short on the left by a defender in the area in the 66th minute.
Article published on 3 October 2023 - 23:19
