PEEP! PEEP! PEEEEEEEEEEEEEP! THAT, THEN, IS VERY MUCH THAT
ARGENTINA BEAT ITALY WITH TWO CLINICAL FINISHES FROM BANEGA AND LANZINI, WHILE ITALY PAY FOR THEIR LAXITY IN FRONT OF GOAL - MUCH, MUCH BETTER THAN THAT SHOWER AGAINST SWEDEN, THOUGH
Moral of the story?
1. Without Leo Messi, Argentina are just another team 2. Whoever had a say in the FIGC appointing Giampiero Ventura, and voted yes, SHOULD GET SACKED. By God.
88' Perotti almost sneaks into the penalty box, but Rugani does superbly to hold him and win a cheap foul off the Roma man. Argentina make their 4th change as the excellent debutante Bustos goes off for Gabriel Mercado
WOOOOOOFFFFFF! Italy attacked, Argentina counter 3 v 3; Higuain plays a simple ball out to Manuel Lanzini who absolutely leathered one in from just outside the box.
Just before that Buffon had saved sensationally from a Perotti close-range shot to start the Italian attack
84' OH HO HO! PELLEGRINI! CABELLERO PLAYS A LOOSE LOOSE BALL TO OTAMENDI WHOSE ATTEMPTED PASS OUT THE BACK IS INTERCEPTED BY A STEAMING PELLEGRINI TACKLE... AND THE BALL BOUNCES JUST WIDE OFF THE EMPTY GOAL
80' Otamendi's pressurised into a loose pass toward Insigne, but he's outmuscled easily by a backtracking Higuain and Argentina look to knock it around safely once again
Banega plays a lovely one-two with Lo Celso before smacks one past the wrong-footed Buffon from outside the box. Lovely, lovely, goal from a lovely, lovely player
73' Another corner for Argentina as Perotti whips one in and Bonucci passes it out. Di Biagio takes a roll of the dice as he replaces Immobile with PATRICK "CUTROZAGHI" CUTRONE
71' Perotti wins a corner off Zappacosta.... Verratti limps off to be replaced by Bryan Cristante. From the corner, Perrotti absolutely leathers one high into the stands. Good looking shot, though
70' Higuain kills another move by hogging onto the ball for a bit too long; Italy break through Candreva, he lays it off to Immobile, but the Lazio man's pass is horrible.
68' OH! TERRIFIC, TERRIFIC Ball from Verratti plays in Insigne who tries to bend it into the far corner, but Cabellero us up to it. The ball bounces out to Pellegrini who whacks it, but straight at the Argentine keeper
59' OH CIRO! OH CIRO! Verratti does brilliantly to pick out Immobile down the left, but his shot is well-saved one-on-one by Caballero. The subsequent corner is rubbish
58' OW! CHIESA! INSIGNE! The young Florentine played in a sublime ball after Parolo played him into the box, but Cabellero did do ever so well to drop on Insgine's feet and stop a simple tap-in
56' Di Maria races at, and past, Florenzi before lifting one into the box, where Lanzini's first-time volley smashes into D Sciglio. Di Maria takes a pop then from thirty yards. Gigi looks at it contemptuously before gathering it easily
55' Jorginho and Veratti take it in turns to try and play in De Sciglio down the left; both of them fail. The Etihad rings out with chants of MESSI MESSI MESSI.
54' Lanzini and Bustos play some neat, neat football down the right as they try to play their way into the Italian box, but Jorginho gets a leg in; and that's that. The half-empty Etihad are doing the Mexican wave now
52' Chiesa goes down as a he gets runs slam-bang into Biglia; who gave him a nice little stomp in the process. The ref blows his whistle to get the young man some treatment
51' Much better six minutes of football already. Insigne tries to tee up Jorginho on the edge of the box, via a Parolo dummy, but Lo Celso sniffs out the danger and comes back to rob the Napoli midfielder. Did no one shout "MAN ON" or "MAN ON YOU" or something of the sort?
50' OH! WHAT A MISS! LANZINI THIS TIME! Higuain motors away after a loose Jorginho pass hands him possession. He feeds Di Maria, who curls it onto Lanzini's forehead - free and five yards out, he heads it well over Buffon's crossbar.
49' OOOOOOH! MY GOOD LORD! HOW DID INSIGNE MISS THIS! Immobile does so well to run at the Argentine defence and play in Insigne; one-on-one with the keeper, he absolutely smashes it past him, and PAST HIS FAR POST! WHAT A MISS!
48' OOOO! INTERESTING BALL! He pushes it deep into the Argentine box, the ball flying centimetres above a leaping Bonucci, and Cabellero punches it clear
47' Insigne gets it again down the left and he plays a couple of nice passes with Verratti before the PSG man gets pulled down. Insigne will take the freekick from the left touchline
45' Argentina look much more a Sampaoli side than ever before....OH MY GOOD LORD! WOOF! DI MARIA PLAYS IN A PASS OF ABSOLUTE MAGIC, HIGUAIN TIMES HIS RUN SUPERBLY BEHIND FLORENZI, SHOOTS LOW AT GIGI, BUT SUPERMAN GETS A STRONG HAND ON IT! GREAT, GREAT FOOTBALL BY ALL THREE
44' OOOO! Tagliafico bombs forward and gets on the end of some exceptional rat-a-tat passing from Lo Celso, Higuain and Di Maria - but his thunderous shot is well saved by Buffon at his near post.
42' Argentina press Italy forward but a Bonucci interception sets Insgine off on his scooter. The Neapolitan tries a one-two off Immobile, but the excellent Otamendi reads it perfectly and carries Argentina back forward
37' OOO! Offside! A loose pass from Bonucci enables Lo Celso to lift a neat ball into Higuain - but Pipita's strayed offside... wouldn't have mattered as Buffon had raced off his line to hack it clear
36' Di Maria screams at the Italian defence again, a furiously backtracking Florenzi is panicking visibly; but Di Maria's pass/shot across the face of the goal is useless
ARGENTINA BEAT ITALY WITH TWO CLINICAL FINISHES FROM BANEGA AND LANZINI, WHILE ITALY PAY FOR THEIR LAXITY IN FRONT OF GOAL - MUCH, MUCH BETTER THAN THAT SHOWER AGAINST SWEDEN, THOUGH
Moral of the story?
1. Without Leo Messi, Argentina are just another team
2. Whoever had a say in the FIGC appointing Giampiero Ventura, and voted yes, SHOULD GET SACKED. By God.
That's all from me Anirudh Menon.
Toodle-ooo!