Inter defender Alessandro Bastoni has praised the contributions of his club and international teammate Nicolo Barella as complete and essential to both teams.
Speaking to Italian broadcaster SportMediaset after the Italian national team’s win over Belgium in the Nations League, the 22-year-old spoke highly of his teammate who he believes can do virtually everything on the pitch.
Barella has established himself as a key player at Inter since his arrival from Cagliari in the summer of 2019, improving season on season, while his performances for his club have also earned him a starting spot with the international team.
The Azzurri got the better of Belgium in the Nations League third place playoff yesterday, and the team are glad to be back to winning ways after having their lengthy winning streak broken in a defeat at the hands of Spain in the semi-final of the competition.
Bastoni reflected on the Spain defeat, stating that “We are sorry to have lost after such a streak of wins, we lost against a great Spain team and certainly we could have done better. However, we knew that the problems we had had could be corrected, we were calm and confident in ourselves as a group.”
“This game against Belgium was also an important match, it counted for the ranking. Besides, it’s always nice to win,” he explained.
Of his teammate Barella he stated, “Now he can even be a goalkeeper. I congratulate him, I have already given my thoughts to him in private – for us he is truly a fundamental player. He deserves to be among the thirty candidates for the Ballon d’Or, he’s giving us a big hand both here and at Inter.”
