The Arsenal players in action at Euro 2024 on Thursday will not want to look back on their performances.
Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice weren’t great in England’s draw against Denmark, but the most disappointing display came from Jorginho for Italy against Spain.
The veteran midfielder is one of the best players in the world at what he does. His calmness on the ball, ability to control the game and create chances from deep make him an important player for club and country whenever he plays.
However, Jorginho had a night to forget when Italy faced Spain at the Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen on Thursday.
Arsenal’s Jorginho gets criticised by Italian media after Euro 2024 display vs Spain
Jorginho started for Italy against Spain in their second game at Euro 2024 on Thursday night.
Luciano Spalletti’s side are the defending champions, and a lot is expected of them in this competition because they have a very good squad.
After a victorious start to the Euros against Albania in their opening game, Italy came up against Luis de la Fuente’s exciting Spain side.
La Roja were all over Italy from the start. They dominated the game, pressed extremely well and created loads of chances.
Spain could’ve easily won the game 4-0, but Gianluigi Donnarumma‘s brilliance in goal saved Italy from getting humiliated.
Not many of Spalletti’s players had a good game on Thursday night – Jorginho definitely didn’t.
The Arsenal midfielder was well-marked by Pedri and he just couldn’t get out of the hole that the Spanish midfield put him in.
He looked nothing like his usual self in the middle of the park, so Spalletti took him off at half-time.
Here’s how the Italian media reacted to his display.
Stadio News gave him a 5/10 rating and wrote: “Hides too much. The game should go from his feet but he doesn’t show up much and Spalletti realises it. When he has to launch, he is too imprecise, the manager replaces him at the end of the first half.”
Sky Sports Italia gave him a 4.5/10 rating. They said: “He should call the ball and lead his swamp out, but nobody ever finds him. And he is also invisible in contrast to the Spaniards, so much so that the director in the first half looks like Barella. This is not the case and in fact lasts forty-five minutes.”
Sport Mediaset also gave him a 4.5/10 rating and wrote: “Race to forget for the Italian-Brazilian. He lost Pedri after two minutes, he owes a dinner to Donnarumma (for his save).
“Then, he suffers the tight marking of the Barcelona midfielder and never manages to dictate the times to the team. Spalletti takes him off at the interval.”
Finally, 90min in Italy rated him 5/10 and said: “He gets into difficulty primarily from a physical point of view, Pedri does not give him a moment’s respite and he does not do much to get him out of the way.”
Jorginho’s stats vs Spain are so disappointing
Spain were so dominant against Italy on Thursday night that Jorginho barely got out of his own half.
The Italian is usually so good at resisting the press and finding his teammates, but he didn’t have a great game at all against De La Fuente’s side.
In his 45 minutes on the pitch, most of it in his own half, Jorginho made just 25 accurate passes. He lost possession seven times and won just two of his six attempted duels.
The Arsenal midfielder was also dribbled past three times, which wasn’t ideal at all (SofaScore).
Italy take on Croatia next in what will be another very difficult game. It will be interesting to see if Jorginho will get the nod from the start after getting hooked at half-time against Spain.