Italy Player Ratings vs Germany: Superb Tonali Not Enough to Avoid Defeat | OneFootball

In the first leg of the UEFA Nations League quarter-final, Italy hosted Germany at San Siro. The Azzurri were hoping to head towards Sunday’s decisive fixture with an advantage, and they appeared to be on the right track when Sandro Tonali opened the scoring with a clinical finish. However, it turned out to be a story of two halves, as the visitors were by far the better side after the break. Julian Naglesmann’s side managed to turn the result upside down through two headers from Tim Kleindienst and Leon Goretzka. So here are our player ratings for Italy who suffered a 1-2 defeat to Germany in front of their home supporters.

Italy (3-5-2)

Gianluigi Donnarumma – 5.5

The Euro 2020 hero could do little about the opener, but one would have expected more from him on the second which didn’t land too far from where he was standing.

Giovanni Di Lorenzo – 6

The Napoli captain looked solid for the majority of the contest, but never stood a chance against Kleindienst.

Alessandro Bastoni – 5

The Inter defender lost out to Kleindienst in their air duel on the equalizer, and allowed Goretzka to escape him on the winner.

Riccardo Calafiori – 5.5

The Arsenal summer signing was drawn out of position by Joshua Kimmich on the first Germany goal. He always happy to join his teammates in attacking forays, but yielded mixed results.

Matteo Politano – 6

The Napoli star looked slightly uncomfortable with his defensive duties in his unusual role at wingback. Nevertheless, he made the timely run that prompted the opener.

Nicolò Barella – 6

The Inter stalwart was influential in the first half, and his superb through ball released Politano ahead of Italy’s goal. However, his impact dwindled in the second period as the tide turned in Germany’s favor.

Nicolò Rovella – 5.5

The Lazio Regista usually see much of the ball, but it wasn’t the case this time as he hardly made himself noticed. Still needs to earn the respect of his national teammates.

Sandro Tonali – 7.5

The Newcastle Star had a fabulous outing on his San Siro return. Broke the deadlock with a well-taken shot and put Kean and Raspadori on with lovely flicks. Didn’t deserve to be on the losing side.

Destiny Udogie – 5.5

Not a bad outing from the Spurs left-bak, but didn’t truly fill the void left by Federico Dimarco, especially in the attacking phase.

Moise Kean – 6

The Fiorentina bomber was able to match Jonathan Tah’s physical strength like only a few can, but just couldn’t make the most out of his chances. His first attempt was denied by Oliver Baumann, while the second went just wide.

Giacomo Raspadori – 5.5

The Sassuolo youth product should have done better when put through by Tonali, but insisted on shooting with his right foot despite the difficult angle, which made for an easy save for Baumann.

Substitutes

Raoul Bellanova – 5

The Atalanta wingback added little to nothing following his introduction.

Samuel Ricci – 5.5

The Torino captain wasn’t exactly an upgrade on Rovella, as he couldn’t help Italy trigger a comeback.

Daniel Maldini – 6

The third-generation star looked lively and tested Baumann with a long-range effort.