Giorgio Chiellini has named Mauro Icardi as the second toughest opponent he has had to mark over the course of his career behind current teammate Cristiano Ronaldo.
“In my opinion, Icardi is the second best striker in the penalty box who I have ever marked. He chips away at you mentally, in the sense that you have to be concentrated all the time. I have only encountered one who is worse for that but he [Cristiano Ronaldo] is playing with me this year,” the defender said in an interview with DAZN.
He also spoke on the evolution of Italian football particularly when it comes to defending.
“Football is evolving, and that’s good. It’s right to open up and learn new things, otherwise you’ll never improve. That said, it’d be nice to keep the Italian culture which allowed us to achieve great things. In short the history of Italian football has been made by great defenders, certainly not only them but I hope that in the future we can have stories of more great victories, possibly achieved thanks to great defenders.”
