Inter Milan defender Alessandro Bastoni has come in for criticism for a poor display off the bench for Italy against England.
Today’s print edition of Rome-based newspaper Corriere dello Sport, via FCInterNews, give the 24-year-old a score of just 5/10 for his substitute appearance.
Bastoni came on as a substitute for his Inter teammate Francesco Acerbi just after the hour mark yesterday at Wembley.
Veteran former Lazio and Sassuolo defender Acerbi had already been struggling to contain Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane.
It seemed as though Italy coach Luciano Spalletti felt that a change was necessary to stop the 30-year-old former Tottenham Hotspur striker.
But that’s not how it panned out.
Bastoni formed the Azzurri’s centre-back partnership along with Atalanta’s Giorgio Scalvini. The pair attempted to start restricting the influence of Kane’s holdup play.
But instead, the Englishman just became more and more influential in the match in the final hour of the match.
Alessandro Bastoni Criticized For Sub Appearance For Italy Vs England
In the 77th minute of the match, Kane got the better of Scalvini.
A smart touch from the Bayern man saw him leave the Atalanta defender flat-footed. And then he had the strength and pace to escape his opposite number.
Then it was up to Bastoni to try and stop – or at least cause problems for – the England striker.
But the Inter defender hardly anticipated the danger.
Bastoni’s positioning was all wrong to catch up with Kane. Even though the Englishman is not necessarily the quickest of strikers, Bastoni was not able to catch up with him.
Therefore, Kane was through on goal.
And Bastoni followed the striker helplessly, but did not prevent him from setting himself up for a shot and then slotting the ball past Gianluigi Donnarumma.
For the Corriere, it was emblematic of a mediocre and anonymous thirty minutes as a whole from Bastoni.
