Italy's 3-1 win over Türkiye at Bologna's Dall'Ara was decided as much by the ratings as the scoreline. Riccardo Calafiori finished as the best performer on the pitch with a 7.76, while D. Maldini ended up as the clear low point on 6.49 after a flat night in the UEFA Nations League.
Calafiori's impact off the bench
Calafiori did not need long to make the match his own. He came on at 55 minutes and scored in the 64th, and the outlet's ratings handed him the top mark in the game. His 7.76 was backed by the goal, and it was the sort of introduction that changes how a result is read.
Calafiori was not the only substitute to leave a mark. Francesco Pio Esposito scored Italy's fourth goal in the 87th minute and was rated 7.47, while Gianluca Scamacca had already set the tone with the opener in the 26th minute and finished on 7.87. Italy's most decisive work came after the break, and the bench ended up carrying the sharpest end of the performance.
Maldini's poor night
If Calafiori was the headline act, Maldini was the player who brought the review down. Calciomercato.it rated him 5 and criticised him for failing to track Zeki Çelik on Türkiye's equaliser, which fits the 6.49 mark that left him well behind the evening's best performers. He tried to trouble Celik on the left, but the chance never really took hold.
That split between the two Italy attackers is hard to miss. Scamacca's 7.87, Calafiori's 7.76 and Pio Esposito's 7.47 point to a side that found its best moments through direct contributions, while Maldini's night never got close to that level. Roberto Mancini will take more from the substitutes than from the flat start in Bologna.
Written by Daniel Hartley with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
