5) Leonardo Bonucci
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An ode to the Italian defence recently read’ forget Bale, Benzema and Cristiano, Italy’s Barzagli, Bonucci and Chiellini are Italy’s version of BBC. The youngest of that trio is Leonardo Bonucci. Since his debut in 2010, Bonucci has represented Italy 60 times and scored 3 goals.
Bonucci had gigantic shoes to fill when he made the cut for the Italian national side in 2010. Those shoes were of their World Cup winning captain Fabio Cannavaro. In the late 2000’s the Italian defence had to undergo their greatest transition and subsequent re-structuring till date when the likes of Maldini, Nesta and Cannavaro retired.
Many were sceptical about Italy’s chances of replacing them with players of the same quality. Bonucci has unfounded those fears over the years. In their opening Euro 2016 match against Belgium, Bonucci produced a sublime pass from near the halfway line, to set up Italy’s opening goal.
That match had the best of Leonardo Bonucci on display. A brilliant tackler with superb positioning sense, he makes it to this list ahead of Chiellini and Barzagli because he has a much better eye for a pass compared to the other 2. Expect the Spanish to toil hard if Bonucci is on top of his game tonight.
