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Italy beat Netherlands 1-0 in Amsterdam in the UEFA Nations League, with a spirited performance filled with quality, as the Dutch were by far second best on the night.
Nicolo Barella's header at the end of the first half proved to be what separated the two sides, but the scoreline might have been a bit kinder to the Dutch than it could've been on another day.
The goal came off a well-worked move on Italy's left flank, Leonardo Spinazzola and Lorenzo Insigne. Ciro Immobile was presented with the ball on the edge of the box, from where he picked out Barella with a superb cross and the midfielder made no mistake with his header.
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Here are the hits and flops from yet another Italian success in Amsterdam.
#5 Hit - Leonardo Spinazzola
Spinazzola was in terrific form for Italy down their left flank. Starting as the left-back, he combined superbly with Insigne ahead of him, and made life incredibly difficult for Hans Hateboer, who started as the right-back for the Netherlands.
Despite Spinazzola being right-footed, he managed to keep the width on the flank, and didn't really cut inside at every opportunity. That was important because with Insigne being right-footed, the diminutive winger's game is built on cutting inside and occupying central spaces.
Spinazzola hugging the touchline ensured that Italy could stretch the Dutch defence, and make the ball do the talking, as Dwight Lodeweges's side really didn't have the answers to the quick movement and passing from the Italians.
Spinazzola was also heavily involved in the move that led to the Italian goal, as he started it off, before letting Insigne and Immobile combine to set up Barella.
#4 Flop - Hans Hateboer
After an impressive performance against Poland on Friday, Hateboer was well below par in this game. He struggled with the balance between venturing forward and leaving his space at the back unguarded.
Spinazzola and Insigne really did push Hateboer back, and exploited the spaces in behind him superbly. The Atalanta man is not the quickest defender going, so the Italians always targeted his channel. In what might also have been a conscious effort to stay away from Virgil van Dijk's side, Italy always attacked from their left.
Hateboer's indecisiveness while defending also affected his game going forward. Against Poland, his movement and passing in the final third was crisp and confident. In this game, the same moves were shrouded with self-doubt and looked a little timid.
His crossing on the night was real let-down for the Netherlands as well.
#3 Hit - Nicolo Barella
The diminutive Inter Milan midfielder has made a habit of scoring important goals from midfield, and he was once again in the right place at the right time, when the situation demanded it.
He was never really going to win a header against either Nathan Ake or van Dijk, so it was important that he timed his movement in the box to perfection. When Immobile crossed to him, Barella found just the right moment to sneak in between the two Dutch defenders and power a header past Jasper Cillessen in the Dutch goal.
Barella was also the real trigger for what was a very effective Italian press. He negated the effect of Frenkie de Jong on the ball, and that meant that the Netherlands couldn't really progress with the ball in central areas, which would have been a key game-plan for them, with both the Barcelona man and Donny van de Beek starting there.
#2 Flop - Memphis Depay
The tricks and flicks that spectacularly came off against Poland just didn't work for Memphis Depay in this game, as the experience of Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci proved to be a little too much for him to handle.
The Dutch talisman had a chance at the end of the game, when a Denzel Dumfries cross found him unmarked at the far-post. Instead of focusing on controlling and striking the ball as well as he could, Memphis went for the spectacular, but his scissor kick was not executed well enough, and gave Gianluigi Donnarumma no problems in Italian goal.
He also unnecessarily talked his way into being given a yellow card by German referee Felix Brych. That yellow card followed a caution that he received in the game against Poland, and means that he will now miss the Netherlands's next game in the Nations League against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
#1 Hit - Manuel Locatelli
On his international debut, Locatelli put in a performance to remember, as he was a key player in executing Roberto Mancini's game-plan as well it turned out during the game. With Jorginho the deep-lying midfielder, and Barella given the license to get into attacking areas at times, Locatelli's role was to bring discipline and control to the midfield, and he did that to perfection.
In Frenkie de Jong and Donny van de Beek, the Dutch lined up with two excellent ball players in the middle of the park, and if Italy were going to have joy in this game, they needed to shut down those two in midfield, especially the runs of van de Beek.
Locatelli was the man tasked with handling the new Manchester United signing, and he did his job to perfection. When he was replaced by Bryan Cristante late in the game, Locatelli had done his job, with the Netherlands resorting to hoofing the ball up-field by the time he left the pitch.
