Juventus had two representatives in Italy’s beginning lineup for final evening’s 1-3 defeat by the hands of France within the UEFA Nations League.
Luciano Spalletti chosen Manuel Locatelli as a Regista on the coronary heart of his 3-5-1-1 formation, whereas the versatile Andrea Cambiaso operated on the proper flank as is commonly the case with the nationwide crew.
The Azzurri solely needed to keep away from dropping by two objectives or extra to protect their spot on the high of the group, however they failed to take action. As a substitute, Adrien Rabiot cemented himself as the final word hero for France by nodding dwelling two towering headers because of Lucas Digne’s assists.
Nonetheless, Cambiaso additionally had his second, assembly Federico Dimarco’s cross with a scientific end that left no likelihood for Mike Maignan.
However regardless of getting his title on the scoresheet, the wingback didn’t obtain flashy notes on the participant scores of essentially the most outstanding Italian newspapers (through IlBianconero), however solely gentle grades various between 6/10 and 6.5/10.
For his half, Locatelli was a late addition to the Italian squad following Samuele Ricci’s damage, making a long-awaited return to the Azzurri whereas using on his constructive Juventus kind. Nevertheless, the 26-year-old didn’t do himself any favors with a lackluster show in the course of the park.
The previous Sassuolo man did not encourage, and located it onerous to maintain monitor with Christopher Nkunku at occasions. Furthermore, he misplaced the aerial attributable to his former Juventus ally Rabiot on France’s third aim earlier than being hauled off in favor of Nicolo Rovella. Therefore, Locatelli acquired mediocre grades between 5/10 and 5.5/10.
So it stays to be seen if Spalletti could be prepared to name up the Juventus stalwart as soon as once more, or drop the ball on him, particularly with the likes of Ricci, Rovella and Nicolo Fagioli all vying for the deep-lying playmaker function.
