Midfielder Nicolo Barella has received extremely positive scores for his performance in Inter Milan’s Serie A win over Napoli Sunday evening.

L’Interista highlight the excellent player ratings that the 26-year-old received across Italian media.

Inter faced a tough midfield battle against Napoli on Sunday evening.

The Partenopei pressed with ferocious intensity in midfield.

The trio of Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa, Eljif Elmas, and Stanislav Lobotka all stepped up and tried to limit the time and space that Inter’s midfielders would get on the ball.

The aim of this approach was to limit the ability of the Inter midfielders to get forward.

This was a logical strategy in many respect. The likes of Barella as well as Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Hakan Calhanoglu certainly have the quality to contribute creatively in the final third.

Nicolo Barella Praised For All-Action Display In Inter Serie A Win Vs Napoli

Given the way that Napoli tried to play, it was vital for Inter to have a midfield presence capable of keeping up in central areas.

And Barella proved to be the perfect player in the centre of the pitch for the Nerazzurri.

Yesterday’s match perfectly suited the former Cagliari midfielder’s strengths.

Barella was a bundle of energy and constant running, and was able to get just enough distance from his marker to get on the ball and keep things ticking over.

This allowed Inter to just about cope with the Napoli pressure. Even when the Partenopei staged an onslaught towards the end of the first half.

And then Barella was a key man in transitioning defense to attack for Inter.

Far from tiring due to the intense midfield battle, the 26-year-old exploited the spaces in behind.

Then, when Barella did get in a pocket of space in the final third, his contributions were always useful.

Naturally, the two most prominent examples of this were the two goal contributions.

First, Barella intelligently set up teammate Hakan Calhanoglu for Inter’s opener.

Then, the 26-year-old showed all his technical ability to dance through the Napoli penalty area and score his first goal of the campaign.

But in truth, there was far more to Barella’s performance than his goals. On the night, the Italian international was everywhere.