Inter Milan midfielder Nicolo Barella “ghosted” the midfield battle as Italy bombed out of EURO 2024 against Switzerland.
This is the view in today’s print edition of Turin-based newspaper Tuttosport, via FCInterNews.
In the group stage of this summer’s Euros, Barella didn’t take long to announce himself as Italy’s key man in midfield.
The 27-year-old Inter midfielder shone in the Azzurri’s group stage opener against Albania.
And Italy were always going to need Barella to be at his best if they were to have a positive tournament in the knockout stages.
For both club and country, the former Cagliari midfielder is a driving force.
Few midfielders in European football can provide the combination of endless running with technical polish that Barella does.
But there was little of that in yesterday evening’s disastrous round of sixteen exit to Switzerland.
Nicolo Barella “Ghosts” Midfield Battle In Italy EURO 2024 Loss Vs Switzerland
As Tuttosport notes, Barella seemed to pick up a thigh knock early in yesterday evening’s match.
Then, that seemed to hang over the way that the 27-year-old played for the rest of the match.
Barella was unable to really keep pace with the Switzerland midfield duo of Granit Xhaka and Remo Freuler.
This was most apparent on the Swiss opening goal.
It was Freuler who made the run into the Italy penalty area. And Barella was the player who failed to track the Bologna midfielder’s attacking movement.
However, that was just one moment that was emblematic of Barella’s evening as a whole.
The 27-year-old was not a combative presence as Switzerland dominated possession early on.
And when Barella did get on the ball, he was unable to make anything dangerous happen.
Eventually, a tired-looking Barella came off as a second half substitute. And he did so having failed to put his stamp on the match.
