Italy beat the Belgians 2-0 in the opener of Euro 2016 in Lyon, France.
Buffon – 8: Definitely not a night where Gigi could have pulled out the lawn chair, he was called into action on several occasions, including a first half effort by Nainggolan. A well deserved clean sheet.
Barzagli – 8: Under heavy fire by Hazard the whole night, but you wouldn’t know. The Chelsea man was shackled and had very little success all night long.
Bonucci – 9: Not only did Bonucci defend beautifully tonight, but he had 3 deep long balls that caused Belgium all sorts of problems. Pirlo who?
Chiellini – 8: Belgium deployed a big striker to go against King George, but in typical Chiellini fashion, he was wrestled and aggravated the whole night. Hard day’s work for the Italy veteran, but nonetheless an excellent performance.
Candreva – 9.5: Man of the match, he caused Belgium all sorts of mayhem on the right hand side. He caused problems with his set pieces, one on one plays and finally got the assist in the 93rd minute. An excellent performance from the Lazio man.
Parolo – 7.5: No, he’s not a Marchisio, Verratti or Pirlo, but Marco Parolo is a force to be reckoned with. Looked calm the whole night and played an excellent match. Perhaps he allowed too much space to Belgium’s onslaught in the final minutes, but an all around solid and stoic performance from the other Lazio man.
De Rossi – 7.5: The Roman gladiator played an important role tonight of quashing any Belgian counterattack and was an extension of the Italian backline. Excellent performance tonight by the old warhorse.
Giaccherini – 7: The most Giaccherini-esque performance you will ever seen. A few bad passes, a few uncontrolled loose balls, but at the end he scored the opener and denied a near certain Belgian goal.
Darmian – 6: Solid, but really unnoticed. It makes sense to play Darmian on the right side of the 3-5-2, but you won’t get a lot of offense out of him. A few bad passes led to some scary counters.
Pelle – 8: The hinge of the Italian counter. His ball control skills are bar none the best Italy has to offer, and he was able to distribute passes to the wings. He could have had a hat-trick if it weren’t for an incredible Courtois.
Eder – 6: He made one contribution all night and it was a yellow card. But a very important foul to stop a very dangerous Belgium attack.
Substitutions
De Sciglio – 6: Can’t say the AC Milan man made a big difference when he came on with 30 minutes to go, but he played well enough to cover Chiellini from De Bruyne’s efforts in the late going.
Immobile – 6.5: Total workhorse for Conte after he came on for Belgium. Nearly scored a beautiful goal that would have put the game to bed earlier. A different look from Ciro than from the World Cup in Brazil.
Thiago Motta – N/A: Came on late, not much to say other than he didn’t make a mistake.
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