Inter captain Mauro Icardi’s double against Verona sees him earn Football Italia’s player of the week.
Words: Tom Scholes
Mauro Icardi may be struggling to get into the Argentina squad, but his form for Inter has been sensational, helping them almost nail down a Champions League spot for next season.
Inter captain Mauro Icardi’s double against Verona sees him earn Football Italia’s player of the week.
Words: Tom Scholes
Mauro Icardi may be struggling to get into the Argentina squad, but his form for Inter has been sensational, helping them almost nail down a Champions League spot for next season.
In the past two games Icardi has managed to bag six goals in his past two games, scoring a quadruple in a 5-0 win at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris against Sampdoria, but this week he once again showed his match winning quality as he scored two of Inter’s three goals in their important win at San Siro against Verona, capitalising on Roma’s draw with Bologna.
It only took a minute for Icardi to show is doubters that he is top quality and he grabbed his second just four minutes after the half time interval, and while the Inter captain may be out of luck for the Argentina World Cup squad, it’s going to be virtually impossible for Jorge Sampaoli to avoid Icardi’s goal poaching qualities, especially when Sampaoli is favouring another Argentine striker in Serie A who has a tendency to lose his cool in the big moments…
The opening goal was a result of Ivan Perisic’s quick thinking and Icardi’s ability to wait until the ball finds his way and powered him to give Inter a very early lead and was testament to his own quick thinking of hitting the ball first time instead of taking a touch and letting the defender close in on him.
His second goal was more about his own movement as opposed to any quick thinking and instinctive play. As Perisic won the ball on the edge of the Verona box, Icardi was in the middle near the penalty spot. But by the time Perisic had made his way into the box, Icardi had peeled away from his marker and found himself unmarked at the back post and finished on the slide. Easy! There has been a lot of debate on whether Icardi is one of the best strikers in the world, but he can only keep on scoring and hoping that Sampaoli is taking notice, just like Serie A is.
Honourable mentions:
Paulo Dybala – Juventus
Juve’s very own clutch version of LeBron James came in clutch once against for the Old Lady against Milan with a goal and good attacking performance.
Andrea Consigli – Sassuolo
Sassuolo had multiple players that performed well against Napoli but if it wasn’t for Consigli between the sticks, Napoli would have come away with all three points instead of dropping two.
Ciro Immobile – Lazio
Following his disappointing spell with the Italian national team, Immobile once again showed his deadliness in front of goal with another double for Lazio against Benevento