Despite only having three training sessions under his belt, the Nerazzurri midfielder showed off an incredible performance against Albania
Playmaking, pressing, goals. Nicolò is all there Stretcher in the super performance that the midfielder offered against Albania in Italy’s European Championship debut. In doubt until the day before, Nicolò took to the pitch from the 1st minute showing off an enviable physical form at the Westefalenstadion Stadium. “When he played there with Inter in November 2019, against Borussia, Barella was still a champion project, even though he was playing in the Champions League and had already lined up ten appearances for the national team. The boy all ripped, adrenaline and even exaggerated intensity who in Coverciano – still little more than a boy in the Italian youth team – had stolen the eyes of Arrigo Sacchi and yet was not entirely convincing in terms of maturity and management of choices on the pitch“, underlines the Gazzetta dello Sport.
“Today any coach, not just Luciano Spalletti, can ask Barella. This is exactly what the most modern, the most European, the most total, the most leader among the Azzurri. Plus, plus, plus: Barella is the plus of this Italy that beats, even if Spalletti has explained that this is not the case – a coach must tell you certain things he made him play even though he only had three training sessions with the team.”
“Now that he has worked so hard on himself to the point of becoming a sort of robot for 57 games of the season, guided by an intelligence that is anything but artificial, that intensity which was his limit for Barella is no longer just a way of express himself, but a way of being. Of living a football role that in reality is no longer just one. Today Barella can still be a midfielder who dresses like a raider without forgetting that he knows how to be a midfielder who goes to bite whoever is in front of him. Score of his debut at the European Championship: 97.2% of successful passes, or 105 out of 108, and six out of six long passes completed, the best figure among those who have played at least 75 minutes”.
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