Italian media deliver their rating for Sandro Tonali’s performance for their U21’s last night

Add as preferred source on Google

Sandro Tonali’s Italy U21s got their European Championship campaign underway last night falling to a controversial defeat to France.

The lack of VAR at the Under 21 European Championships came up to bite Italy last night as a last minute goal was missed by the officials. At the very least it could have been a penalty as a headed shot saw the ball clearly cross the line before being cleared by a French defender – possibly via a hand.

That would have been an equalising goal and could well have seen the Italian arm of GOAL give more realistic ratings to their young charges.

Sandro Tonali registered an assist for Italy U21s last night

As Newcastle fans there was only really one rating that mattered last night and that’s the one of our incoming big-money transfer, Sandro Tonali.

The 23-year-old captained the Italian side and provided the assist for Italy’s goal from one of many excellent set plays, yet despite barely putting a foot wrong and teeing up a goal, Goal gave Tonali a rating of 6/10.

I watched the game and I can say that seems very harsh. Perhaps I had my black and white tinted specs on and wanted to see only the good, but I can’t remember Tonali making an error all night. In fact, the only mistake he made in my eyes was letting Fabio Miretti take a late free-kick when he should have taken it himself.

Kieran Trippier might find himself off set pieces next season

One thing that really stood out was his accuracy from dead balls, be it corners or free-kicks, they almost always looked dangerous. Kieran Trippier will have some serious competition next season.

The commentary last night focused a lot on Tonali without ever mentioning Newcastle, so it wasn’t just them trying to hype up a Premier League-bound player, they were genuinely impressed by him calling him the complete midfielder and a future leader of the Italian senior side.

It’s just one game, but from what I saw last night Newcastle are getting an unbelievable player if/when we pull this transfer off. The best thing is, he’s still young and has the potential to get even better.