“He’s an alien” – Spalletti delighted with Juventus duo who ran the show against Napoli | OneFootball

Juventus head coach Luciano Spalletti was particularly praiseful of Kenan Yildiz and Manuel Locatelli following Sunday’s win over Napoli.

The 66-year-old had suffered his first defeat as Juventus manager in the reverse fixture at the Stadio Maradona, but he managed to avenge himself against his former employers in style.

The Bianconeri put on a marvellous performance against the Southern rivals, beating them by three unanswered goals.

Juventus captain Manuel Locatelli earns lavish praise

In our post-match player ratings, we identified Locatelli and Yildiz as the two best performers in the contest, both receiving an 8/10 grade.

Spalletti was certainly delighted with the duo, beginning by praising the Juventus captain, who controlled the tempo in midfielder and produced a sensational assist for Jonathan David’s opener.

“Within this dynamism, there always needs to be balance, and Locatelli is excellent at that,” said the former Italy boss in his post-match interview with DAZN via IlBianconero.

“He understands when we’re stretched, when to call this or that. Defensively, we’re solid in our coverage, and Kelly is free to go on those forays because he has enormous potential.

Manuel Locatelli (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)

“It becomes enjoyable, there’s more fun in choosing what you are in that moment of the action. You need intelligent balance, order within chaos, and they’re doing that well now. The difference is always made by their quality.

“Locatelli goes to the edge of the box and produces that backheel to put his teammate through on goal, something that gives him real satisfaction.”

Spalletti lauds ‘alien’ Kenan Yildiz

For his part, Yildiz scored the second for Juventus with a clinical touch, and could have grabbed a couple of assists in the first half, had Khephren Thuram and Francisco Conceicao finished off their chances.

Therefore, Spalletti hailed the Turkish international as an ‘alien’ who can’t act like a normal player, even if he wants to.

“Yildiz played as the striker and scored. He’s an alien, not a normal footballer.

“Every now and then he does something wrong just to see if he can fit into normality, but he can’t. He simply can’t become a normal footballer.”