Locatelli key as Italy roll over yet another opponent | OneFootball

Italy have been completely dominant for the second-match running as they beat Switzerland 3-0 this evening.

It was only last Friday when the Azzurri were handing Turkey their beating by the same scoreline, but today’s win means that we are the first team to book their place in the knockout stages of the competition.

Just as we did in the previous match, from kick-off we moved to dictate the match, and our passing and interchanging was causing all kinds of problems for our opponents.

We wasn’t cauing the Swiss keeper Sommer too much hassle, but their outfield players were being run ragged, and the chances were always going to come.

We looked to have broken the deadlock when the corner was whipped into Juventus captain Giorgio Chiellini, but the ball hit his arm before dropping to the floor to be guided home. VAR wasn’t forgiving…

The defender didn’t last much longer either, as he kicked the ball out of play and signalled to Roberto Mancini that he needed to go off, but the negativity didn’t continue for long.

We took the lead shortly after, with Manuel Locatelli closing out a lovely team move, where he was finally put in by his Sassuolo team-mate Domenico Berardi.

We went into the break knowing that we could easily have been ahead by more, but also knowing the we had done everything right so far, limiting Switzerland to very little.

The secod-half felt a little more reserved, with Spinazzola making less of a push up the field, but while the build-up was less rushed, our control on the encounter wasn’t.

Locatelli doubled the lead less than 10 minutes after the interval, finding himself in space on the edge of the box to blast hard and low into the goal.

There was simply no let-up, just as there wasn’t in the previous clash, and while Ciro Immobile had struggled to get his chances on target in the clash, he still managed to put one away late on, although the goalkeeper should probably have done better to deny him.

All-in-all, Italy have done exactly what they were asked to do, and you can’t help but think it may have been a little too easy.

We now face Wales in the final group game knowing we can win the group with a draw, but I imagine the manager will take the opportunity to rest some players and give others a chance to impress.

Should Mancini be looking to play his best team against Wales also?

Patrick