It was just the second shot on target of his Serie A career, having also scored with his first a few weeks earlier in a wild 4-3 win over Sassuolo.
That breakout month of
Well, he's not struggling anymore.
The multi-talented midfielder scored twice in a 3-0 win over
His first goal was an ideal example of modern soccer: Locatelli’s left-footed volley from his own half sent Sassuolo teammate
“I knew that Domenico was out wide and I made a perfect impact with the ball with my left foot,” Locatelli said after picking up the man of the match award. “The cross-field pass galvanized me and I surged into the area and was fortunate that Domenico gave me a great ball and I was able to score. It was really beautiful.”
His second was a long-range blast that left Switzerland’s goalkeeper immobile.
“The first goal was a jewel, a play that began with a really high-quality technical effort, then finished with a perfect insertion. The second showed off one of the best parts of his repertoire — his shooting,” veteran coach
The previous
“Manuel is a complete midfielder and he’s acquired character over the years,” Ranieri said.
Locatelli has openly acknowledged that one of the reasons
He is now. And that’s one of the reasons why returning
The price might go up now, but the transfer talk doesn’t bother Locatelli.
“When you’re playing in a big tournament like this your focus has to be exclusively on that,” he said. “This is a competition that every kid dreams about playing in. It’s actually easy to stay focused on this tournament.”
Locatelli gained his spot in the starting lineup for Italy’s opening two matches because of an injury to
Having also overwhelmed
Coach
“We always want to attack with a lot of players, and often with the midfielders, which sometimes brings risks,” Mancini said.
The Azzurri are on a 29-match unbeaten run.
“Italy again showed what we saw against
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