Isco’s stunning individual performance for Spain against Italy left Giampiero Ventura feeling he had no choice but to applaud.
Spain thumped Ventura’s side 3-0 in a World Cup qualifier at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday, with the Real Madrid star’s first-half double proving decisive before substitute Alvaro Morata sealed victory late on.
Isco delighted his home crowd with a magnificent free-kick and an accurate low strike, his second goal seeing him glide past Marco Verratti, who was given a torrid time.
The Spain standout also executed a magnificent second-half nutmeg against the Paris Saint-Germain midfielder which has since gone viral.
2 – Isco Alarcon is the first player to score two goals from outside the box in the same game for since at least 2004. Sensational. pic.twitter.com/PN8XT05B4r
— OptaJose (@OptaJose) September 2, 2017
Italy boss Ventura watched on in admiration of Isco’s performance and conceded to actually enjoying the experience.
“I could not help but applaud him when I saw him, he was a rival, but I am a lover of the beautiful things of this sport,” said Ventura.
“It was nice to see Isco live. He is a great player who did incredible things, you just have to think about the technical manoeuvre of the nutmeg he did in midfield, he left two opponents red-faced, then in the second half between three opponents and you do a nutmeg, that means he has incredible class, obviously superior to the rest of the players.
10 – Isco against Italy by numbers:
goals
2 shots
5 dribbles completed (6)
56 passes completed (59)
Delight. pic.twitter.com/eeR8qLdJ7K— OptaJose (@OptaJose) September 2, 2017
“But not just Isco, there were other players with a lot of class too. You have to be humble to recognise it and we have to work in order to be competitive.”
Italy are at home to Israel in Group G on Tuesday, while leaders Spain travel to Liechtenstein.
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