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Italy thrive with BBC of a rather different kind
LYON: On a night when Italy showed they are still a force to be reckoned with at the European Championship, Leonardo Bonucci put on a masterly performance from the
LYON: On a night when Italy showed they are still a force to be reckoned with at the European Championship, Leonardo Bonucci put on a masterly performance from the heart of its defence to show that defence is still the heart of the team.
The 29-year-old centre back did it all on Monday, excelling both in defence and attack.
“We showed some typical Italian qualities,” said Bonucci. “Sacrifice, humility, physical fitness, desire.”
Bonucci and Juventus teammates Giorgio Chiellini and Andrea Barzagli reached a combined 200 appearances for the Italian national team, and they did so by keeping in check the world’s second-ranked team famous for its attacking flare.
It’s a ‘BBC’ of defence, as against the attacking Benzema-Bale-Cristiano combination of Real Madrid.
Standing tall at the centre of Italy’s defence, Bonucci intervened on several occasions to disrupt Belgium attackers who were already sizing up Gianluigi Buffon’s goalmouth.
It may not be catenaccio, the smothering defensive tactic perfected by Italian defenders in the 1970s. Bonucci showed this with attacking darts, not a tradition often practised by Italian defenders.
He made timely tackles to stop Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku before he provided an inch perfect assist for Emanuele Giaccherini to score the opening goal.
With Belgium dictating the pace early on, Bonucci caught them off-guard when he approached midfield. Instead of laying the ball off, he took a quick glance up and spied Giaccherini starting his darting move around defender Toby Alderweireld.
Bonucci lofted the sweetest of lobs 40 metres ahead, landing his pass just over Alderweireld and before Thibaut Courtois could come out to challenge.
Giaccherini did the rest with a deft control with his left boot before using the other foot to slot the ball home.
Belgium had been picked as a pre-tournament favorite based on its oodles of attacking talent.
But Bonucci set the tone for an exhaustive team effort to stymie Belgium’s lauded playmaking pair of Hazard and Kevin De Bruyne and pull off what coach Antonio Conte agreed was an upset. “We were excellent today at preparing for the game and overturning the odds,” Conte said.
