Sandro Tonali's 'perfect' display hailed as he shines next to Newcastle United transfer target

Newcastle United midfielder Sandro Tonali's performance for Italy has been hailed as "perfect" by Azzurri boss Luciano Spalletti.

The former Napoli and Inter Milan gaffer likened Tonali's non-stop display to that of a "wild horse" after the Newcastle man never stopped running. Tonali operated in a five-man midfield in a 3-5-1-1 formation as Italy beat Belgium 1-0 in the UEFA Nations League in Brussels.

Speaking about his midfield engine room, which included one-time Newcastle transfer target Nicolo Barella, Spaletti said: "They were perfect.

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"Barella is a master at positioning himself to find spaces; he knows how to drop back and play as a double pivot.

"He can break beyond the defensive line like a second striker, he has a good shot from distance: he’s perfect for that role, which is what I had previously tried with Lorenzo Pellegrini. He also has some good qualities.

"Davide Frattesi and Tonali seem more like runners, more like wild horses for open spaces. We have an incredibly strong midfield in terms of quality and the ability to sense where they need to position themselves.

"In football today, the one-on-one situation is what you seek, and you have to be able to read and perceive the space. Especially in the first half, we saw some beautiful, quick plays."

Tonali had hit the headlines in Italy after scoring the winning goal, his first strike since being banned for 10 months. Afterwards he said: "It's beautiful, it's beautiful to score and find the first goal for the national team, but it's even more beautiful to win like this. We were playing against a very strong team, we looked for our spaces within the game.

"We started in a certain way, then the spaces were totally different: however we always kept a simple game, no one invented anything. We do what we know how to do well."