Inter Milan midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu has received fairly mixed reviews for his performance against Juventus on Sunday evening.
As L’Interista highlight, Italian media couldn’t quite make up their minds regarding the 29-year-old’s performance in the 1-1 Serie A draw in the player ratings for the match.
Calhanoglu took up his usual position at the base of Inter’s midfield trio yesterday evening.
It is a role that the Turkish international has excelled in this season.
And there was nothing exactly wrong with Calhanoglu’s performance against Juventus.
The former AC Milan, Bayer Leverkusen, and Hamburg midfielder did not give the ball away in any dangerous areas. Nor did he get caught out of position defensively.
On the contrary, Calhanoglu was able to keep things fairly well sewn-together in midfield.
The Turkish international got his positioning right and made the simple passes.
But the question that has divided Italian media was whether this was enough.
Hakan Calhanoglu Gets Mixed Reviews For Performance Vs Juventus
For the Gazzetta dello Sport, Calhanoglu’s performance was worth a score of just 5/10.
This is because the Turk was emblematic of how slow and unimaginative Inter’s performance.
Calhanoglu tends to be the player who is Inter’s creative heartbeat.
And one of the 29-year-old’s most positive traits in his role is his willingness to make high-risk high-reward passes.
Therefore, the degree of caution in Calhanoglu’s performance was a big part of the reason why Inter looked so risk-averse.
The Nerazzurri kept Juventus at arm’s legnth. But they did little more than that for much of the time that they had the ball.
On the other hand, Tuttosport give Calhanoglu a score of 6/10.
The Turin-based newspaper commend the 29-year-old for how tidy his performance was. Even if he was not exactly at his creative best.
And Rome-based Corriere dello Sport split the difference, with a grade of 5.5/10 for Calhanoglu.
