Italy locked horns with Belgium at the Allianz Arena earlier tonight, hoping to pick up a win and progress into the semi-finals of the UEFA Euro 2020 campaign. Nicolo Barella broke the deadlock around the 31-minute-mark as he skipped past two defenders to put the ball past Thibaut Courtois. Lorenzo Insigne doubled Italy’s lead in the 44th minute, followed by which Romelu Lukaku converted from the spot to make it 2-1. However, Belgium failed to find a second goal as Italy emerged winners at the end of the night.
Let’s take a look at how each Italian player fared during the clash against Belgium.
Italy Players Rated In Win Vs Belgium
Gianluigi Donnarumma 8
Donnarumma had a very busy night in between the sticks but he made some wonderful saves to keep his side in the game. Besides, it’d be fair to say that he had a bit of luck on his side as Romelu Lukaku squandered two golden opportunities- first, his shot hit the bar and then he failed to head the ball from point-blank range.
Giovanni Di Lorenzo 6.5
The Napoli right-back conceded had some nervous moments against Jeremy Doku and he even conceded a penalty right before the half-time mark.
Leonardo Bonucci 8.5
The Juventus centre-back went quite close to getting his name on the scoresheet in the early stages of the game. Defensively, he made numerous important tackles and clearances to help his side keep things tidy at the back.
Giorgio Chiellini 8
Chiellini paired well with Bonucci at the heart of Italy’s defence and put up a commanding display tonight. His positioning was really impressive.
Leonardo Spinazzola 8.5
The Roma wing-back created all sorts of menace for the Belgian defence down the left flank as he was rather focused on the offensive side of his game. He also made a match-winning block by denying Lukauku from close range. However, he had to be taken off in the 80th minute due to an unfortunate injury.
Nicolo Barella 8.5
The Inter Milan midfielder broke the deadlock tonight as he managed to skip past two Belgium defenders and slot it past Thibaut Courtois. He put up a high-intensity performance at the centre of the park as he exhibited a tremendous work rate over the course of the game.
Jorginho 9
The Chelsea starlet was equally impressive on and off the ball tonight. He orchestrated Italy’s attacking gameplay from a relatively deeper position and even dropped further at times to shield his side’s back four.
Marco Verratti 8
The Paris Saint-Germain man got himself the assist for Nicolo Barella’s goal. He won numerous fouls in midfield which in turn helped his side regain possession of the ball and minimize the threats Belgium posed on counter-attacks.
Federico Chiesa 7
The Juventus winger had a shoot-on-sigh policy which made him look really frightening at times. He seemed almost unstoppable in the first half an hour or so as he managed to penetrate Roberto Martinez’s defence with some well-timed runs.
Lorenzo Insigne 9
The Napoli skipper displayed his world-class finishing skills tonight as he scored a wondrous goal to extend Italy’s lead in the 44th minute.
Ciro Immobile 7
The Lazio striker struggled to keep hold of the ball in the attacking areas and hardly had any role in the link-up play. Nonetheless, he worked tremendously hard to draw the defenders towards himself create some space for his teammates.
SUBSTITUTES – (Italy Players Rated In Win Vs Belgium)
Bryan Cristante 6
He added some extra energy to Italy’s midfield.
Andrea Belotti 6
He didn’t get much of the ball after coming on.
Domenico Berardi 6
Played some good passes.
