Italy and Chelsea legend Gianfranco Zola was left mightily impressed by the bravery that Destiny Udogie showed in his first start for Italy.
Tottenham fans would not have been surprised by Udogie’s confident and authoritative performance against England at Wembley on Tuesday.
The 20-year-old has had an outstanding start to his Spurs career, having adapted seamlessly to the demands of the Premier League and Ange Postecoglou’s system, and he certainly looked at home on the big stage for the Azzurri.
Udogie strode forward confidently with the ball on several occasions in the first half, with one of those moves leading to Gianluca Scamacca’s opener on 15 minutes.
The Tottenham man found himself on the losing side as the home sight fought back with a Harry Kane brace and a goal from Marcus Rashford to seal their place in next summer’s Euros, but the left-back has come in for plenty of praise for his display.
(Photo by Claudio Villa/Getty Images)
Udogie is impressing some big names in the game
Zola was pleased with the bravery that Luciano Spalletti’s men showed at Wembley, singling out Udogie for praise.
He said on Channel 4 (broadcast on 17/10; 20:08): “It reminded me of what Spalletti said, he said before the match on the interview: ‘we need to be brave with the ball. We need to control the possession and play like that, with freedom’.
“And you can see here, Donnarumma could’ve kicked the ball [long], he didn’t do that despite the pressure. They came out with passing. And I have to say Udogie was fantastic and they built up a good action.”
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Udogie will feel right at home in Spalletti’s Italy set-up, having now been accustomed to playing out from the back and being brave on the ball at Tottenham under Postecoglou. There is no doubt that the 20-year-old will be a fixture in the Azzuri’s starting eleven from now on.
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