Let’s take a look at the World Cup Qualifiers game between Bulgaria and Italy. We have all the player ratings.
With rather contrasting starts to the qualification games in group C, both the teams were looking forward to getting the best out of the game. Bulgaria surprisingly conceded three goals in their first match against Switzerland and lost the game 3-1. On the other hand, Italy made a promising start to the campaign with a 2-0 win over Northern Ireland. We saw Domenico Berardi and Ciro Immobile seal it for the Italians.
Roberto Mancini made six changes to his side as he hoped to repeat the feat again over the hosts. However, he dropped goalscorers Berardi and Immobile for Chiesa and Belotti which seemed like a rookie mistake. Yasen Petrov also made six changes in his roster as he aspired to put a good show of football. But the visitors got the best of the local boys as Andrea Belotti won a penalty kick just before the halftime whistle. The Torino striker thumped the spot-kick past Plamen Iliev to put the visitors ahead before the players went in the tunnel.
Locatelli shuts the hosts from a comeback.
On the 83rd minute mark, substitute Manuel Locatelli doubled the lead and wiped out any possible chances of a comeback for Bulgaria. It was truly a mesmerizing goal to watch as it curled past the goalkeeper into the bottom right corner. Insigne has been proving his worth for his national side over and over again as he assisted his teammate for this goal. As a result of this win, Italy now extends their unbeaten run to 24 matches.
Bulgaria rarely tested Gianluigi Donnarumma with just one hit on the target. Though they would argue that Stefano Sensi made a handball which was not awarded by the referee. Nevertheless, Italy now travels to Lithuania for their next fixture on Wednesday. Whereas, Bulgaria will desperately look for a win against struggling Northern Ireland in the qualifiers.
Player ratings
Bulgaria: Iliev (5), Dimov (3), Antov (6), Bozhikov (6), Cicinho (4), Tsvetanov (5), Chochev (5), Kostadinov (3), Vitanov (6), Delev (5), Galabinov (5).
Bench: Iliev (5), Malinov (5), Karagaren (5), Raynov (6).
Italy: Donnarumma (7), Bonucci (8), Acerbi (8), Florenzi (8), Spinazzola (8), Sensi (8), Barella (5), Verratti (7), Chiesa (5), Insigne (6), Belotti (8).
Bench: Locatelli (9), Di Lorenzo (7), Bernardeschi (7), Immobile (6), Pessina (5).
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