Player Ratings: Italy 2-0 Netherlands

Date: 4th September 2014 at 11:12pm
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Italy v Netherlands - ImmobileItaly defeated The Netherlands 2-0 in an international friendly at Bari’s Stadio San Nicola on Thursday night.

The Azzurri dominated on Antonio Conte’s debut, especially after Dutch defender Bruno Martins Indi was sent-off for fouling Simone Zaza. Italy pressed in the first half and were more than happy to slow the tempo in the second half.

Here are the ratings of the Italy players for this match.

Salvatore Sirigu – 6 – Relaxing

The Dutch hardly attacked once Bruno Martins Indi was sent off and the Paris Saint- Germain goalkeeper was hardly needed to make a save.

Andrea Ranocchia – 6.5 – Confident

He nearly gifted the Dutch a chance to score in the second half but he had little trouble winning the ball, passed calmly and he made the occasional foray forward.

Leonardo Bonucci – 7.5 – Complete

He assisted in Immobile’s goal with a great long pass and his passing in general was superb. The Juventus defender was excellent in marshaling the defence and finding his teammates with his long-range passing.

Davide Astori – 6.5 – Cool

Dirk Kuyt hardly gave him a hard time and the Roma defender won the ball with ease and coolly passed the ball.

Matteo Darmian – 6 – Adequate

Not particularly devastating when going forward and he only made one notable dashing run down the right flank. He was barely pegged back though and his ball use was decent.

Claudio Marchisio – 6.5 – Solid

Closed down space well and he regularly won the ball back. His ball distribution was simple and effective.

Daniele De Rossi – 7.5 – Leader

Given the captain’s armband by Conte, De Rossi showed that he was the complete player tonight. He was excellent in retrieving the ball as well as distributing it. Scored the penalty to extend Italy’s early lead.

Emanuele Giaccherini – 7 – Workhorse

His role was similar to Marchisio’s but he offered more offensively, especially when it came to long passes and direct runs.

Mattia De Sciglio – 6 – Reliable

He wasn’t required to use his blistering pace and he didn’t send in many crosses into the box but he was still reliable in passing the ball.

Simone Zaza – 7 – Revelation

A very good debut from the 23-year-old Sassuolo striker. Combined very well with Immobile and he was hard to knock off the ball. He won the penalty which put Italy 2-0 up and he had about three chances to extend the Azzurri’s lead.

Ciro Immobile – 7.5 – Breakthrough

Scored his first Azzurri goal by opening the scoring after controlling Bonucci’s long pass and kept his cool by dribbling past Stefan De Vrij and Jasper Cillessen. Both Zaza and him pressured the Dutch defence and made the right runs.

Substitutes

Marco Verratti (for Marchisio after 63 minutes) – 5.5

The Paris Saint-Germain midfielder came on to control the play. Kept his passes short.

Marco Parolo (De Rossi 67 minutes) – 5

A quiet game from the Lazio midfielder but the game was effectively over as a contest.

Manuel Pasqual (De Sciglio 67 minutes) – 5

There was not much required for the Fiorentina left wing-back to do.

Antonio Candreva (Darmian 73 minutes) – 5.5

Brought a little bit of spark on the right flank.

Mattia Destro (Zaza 73 minutes) – 5.5

He had a header that ballooned over the bar and made a bit of presence.

Sebastian Giovinco (Immobile 76 minutes) – No vote

He made a slalom run when he came on but he did little else.

Follow Vito Doria on Twitter: @VitoCDoria

 

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