Inter Milan defender Benjamin Pavard has come in for criticism for a lack of attention in both Roma goals against Inter Milan yesterday.
Today’s print edition of Rome-based newspaper Corriere dello Sport, via FCInterNews, charge that the Frenchman “fell asleep” for both of the Giallorossi’s goals in the first half.
Pavard had been the hero for Inter in last weekend’s Derby d’Italia victory over Juventus.
The 27-year-old former Bayern Munich man had set up the winning goal with an attempt at an overhead kick. And just as importantly, he had been virtually flawless in defense.
Pavard had used his pace and defensive awareness to keep the Bianconeri’s wide attackers quiet all match long.
The accolades swiftly followed. Pavard seemingly had confirmed that Inter made the right choice to invest big in his signature last summer.
But yesterday evening at the Stadio Olimpico showed how quickly things can change in football.
Benjamin Pavard “Falls Asleep” On Both Roma Goals Vs Inter
Pavard did have one long-range shot that came very close to going in. The Frenchman could have virtually replicated his iconic goal against Argentina from the 2018 World Cup.
But for all that attacking quality, it is still not the Frenchman’s main job.
Pavard is a defender, with big responsibilities as the right-sided player in Inter’s back three.
And it was in this capacity that he was well below par, in the view of the Corriere.
First of all, Pavard did little to stop Roma defender Gianluca Mancini from heading home from a set piece to equalize in the first half.
Mancini is clearly one of the Giallorossi’s main threats in those situation. And Pavard is theoretically a player Inter would want marking the 28-year-old.
But the former Bayern defender looked a bit hapless as he failed to prevent Mancini from getting free in a bit of space and placing his header past Yann Sommer.
Then, it was Pavard who should have been defending Stephan El-Shaarawy as the Italian scored Roma’s second goal.
The Inter defender was ball-watching a bit in that situation. He got caught out of position, and then failed to catch up to El-Shaarawy before it was too late.