Lazio duo Ciro Immobile and Francesco Acerbi failed to impress in Italy’s 1-1 draw with Bulgaria last night.
As collected by LazioNews24 earlier today, the pair’s disappointing performances did not go unnoticed by the Italian press, with the top papers giving the duo low scores across the board.
Roberto Mancini’s Italy suffered a frustrating 1-1 draw against Bulgaria in yesterday’s World Cup 2022 qualifier, a muted performance after the heights of Euro 2020.
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Immobile was a consistent starter in the Euro 2020 squad under Mancini but was often criticised as he struggled to consistently score, despite a variety of chances.
The Lazio defender struggled to earn his way into the starting 11 in the tournament, playing second fiddle as Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci remained the consistent centre-back pairing.
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Below are the ratings for both Immobile and Acerbi across the Italian press:
- Acerbi 5: Florenzi’s mistake is more obvious, but his is just as bad: he hears Iliev coming up the pitch at speed from behind and makes the wrong move, not moving on the Bulgarian. Hard to recover after that.
- Immobile 5.5: Nice support for Chiesa, looks like the manifesto of the new Immobile sarrista. But then the old ghosts return, the heavy movements, the chances that would have been goals at Lazio and not here.
- Acerbi 5.5: Good, perhaps very good, until the moment when Iliev tricks him and with a counter-movement goes to attack the near post from Despodov’s cross. The only uncertainty, paid dearly for.
- Immobile 5.5: Finds himself in the usual funnel and with his back to goal. Participates in Chiesa’s goal, a dirty assist. He fights and struggles, works a few good balls but loses others. He shot twice, always in complicated conditions to score. He found himself on goal on his own at the start of the second half but wasn’t in the right position to put it in and Antovm avoided any damage.
- Acerbi 5: Marks the area wide, stays close to Atanas Iliev in the box, but is late on the movement for the goal.
- Immobile 5.5: Gets the credit for the perfect pass to Chiesa for the goal, but then again misses a lot in terms of passing. Dangerous on 36 minutes with an Immobile-esque free-kick. In the second half he was stopped by the goalkeeper. But he lacked the goal-scoring instinct he’s shown in the league.
- Acerbi 5: Mistakes his timing on the equaliser and Iliev is alone. An obvious mistake, which weighs heavily, although he concedes little afterwards.
- Immobile 6: Great pass for Chiesa. Otherwise creates a few opportunities to hurt. A couple of good shots towards Georgiev’s goal, he’s unlucky, and often offside.
