Buffon 7
A number of good saves. Fantastic effort to stop Mutu’s strike. Good hand and foot coordination.
Zambrotta 3
One of the weaker games I’ve ever seen Gianluca play for the Azzurri. What was he thinking when he conveniently set up Mutu’s goal. Seemed unfocused.
I thought he was one of the few Italians who actually played better against the Dutch.
Chiellini 6.5
Solid effort. Italy looked a lot tighter at the back. Set up Panucci’s goal.
Panucci 6.5
Christian is never destined to be a great central defender. He had a good game though. Thanks for the goal. That was never a penalty foul. Interesting to see if Donadoni has the courage to select one of the squad’s specialist centre backs for the game against the French.
Grosso 6
Nice runs up the flanks. Nice diving shot block in the first half. At times seemed to be everywhere on the pitch.
De Rossi 5.5
Thought we would have seen a more dominant performance from Daniele. A second half diving header from a Luca Toni tapdown produced a great save from the Romanian goalie.
Pirlo 5.5
Worked hard. Similar to his game against the Dutch tiled hard and did not get the results (outputs) he wanted or deserved.
Perrotta 5.5
I felt Simone was worthy of his selection. Seemed to add a bit of a physicial dimension to Italy’s midfield.
Camorenesi 3
A much improved performance over what he showed against the Dutch. However can someone explain to me why we perservere with Mauro when we have players like Cassano and Aquilani in the squad?
Del Piero 5
Not a bad game. Deserved a bit more luck.
Toni 7
Grafted. Got himself in good positions to set up his team mates. His goal should never of been disallowed.
Cassano had a good game. Good timing with his introduction into the game early in the second half. Lets have Antonio in the starting line up against the French.
Man of the match: Lobont the Romanian goalkeeper. Followed on from Van der Sar’s great performance for the Dutch. It seems all goalies are saving their best games for when they play the Azzurri.
