The Under-21 European Championships got underway in Slovakia on Wednesday night and Leeds United star Willy Gnonto was in action for Italy against Romania.
Four games took place, with hosts Slovakia kicking things off against Mateo Joseph’s Spain. It resulted in a 3-2 win for Spain, with Joseph scoring an eighth goal in 11 caps for Spain’s U21 side, their second.
Spain had gone 2-0 up with Joseph’s goal, only for Slovakia to peg the Spaniard back and taking the game into injury time before Spain netted a winner through Valencia centre-back Cesar Tarrega.
After Spain’s win, three games took place and one of those was Gnonto’s Italy U21 outfit taking on Romania. The Leeds attacker started up top for Italy’s second string, who made hard work of it last night.
Italian media criticise Leeds man Willy Gnonto on Wednesday
Italy had been expected to secure a comfortable win, given they boasted players like Atalanta’s Matteo Ruggeri, Bologna’s Giovanni Fabbian, Roma’s Tommaso Baldanzi and Burnley youngster Luca Koleosho.
But they lumbered to a 1-0 win and having goalkeeper Sebastiano Desplanches to thank for saving a penalty. Italian media delivered their verdicts on Gnonto and they all agreed, the Leeds star was poor.
TuttoMercatoWeb gave Gnonto a rating of 5.5/10: “The most disappointing of the offensive department, there were many wrong choices on the part of the class 2003. He was never really generous.”
Another Italian site Mondo Primavera, also rated Gnonto at 5.5/10: “Victory is not enough to disguise a low-tone test. More is expected from a player with his qualities: not very incisive, often out of the game.”
Finally, Sport Virgilio were also critical of Gnonto for his performance, which lasted until the 63rd minute before being replaced by Cesare Casadei: “Little initiative and shy in one-on-one attempts,” 5.5 again.
When Mateo Joseph and Willy Gnonto are in action again…
Both Joseph and Gnonto come out of the first round of games with wins, almost securing a place in the knockout rounds already. On Thursday, Archie Gray’s England U21’s are in action against Czech Republic.
On Saturday, Spain take on Romania and Italy face Slovakia as Joseph and Gnonto switch opponents on the weekend. Then, the Leeds duo do battle on Tuesday evening in the final game of Group A.
It is likely that by then, Joseph and Gnonto could be either rested or just playing for top spot. With both sides winning their first games, Spain and Italy now look nailed on to qualify for the knockout rounds.
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