Hands up, Who Wants to be Giampaolo Pazzini?

Let’s see: Fastest goal (28 or 29 seconds, depending on who you ask) in the history of Wembley Stadium, first goal in the new Wembley, first hattrick in the new Wembley. Yeah, I think you could say Gianpaolo Pazzini had a pretty good day at work.

The Fiorentina striker was rampant, terrorizing the England defense and benefiting regularly from the magical touch of club teammate Ricardo Montolivo, who served ball after ball right onto Pazzini’s feet. The first goal was by the far the best, slipping just inside the right post from long range, after a slight deflection off England defender Anton Ferdinand (who looks like a clone of big brother Rio — it’s really, really creepy). The other two, though less spectacular, still counted, and Pazzini even had a chance to win it when he slid in just a bit late for a rebound off the England keeper.

This was no typical soft friendly — it had more than its fair share of hard tackles and cards, and two Italian players had to leave the pitch to receive treatment for bloody bits. It was hard-fought and exciting as hell, and there was a ton of potential on display in both sides. (I cannot believe that James Milner is still a U-21.) Though England dominated large chunks of the first half and scored some impressive goals of their own — David Bentley’s sick free kick primary among them — Italy looked awfully good in every part of the field: Roma keeper Gianluca Curci was particularly impressive, as were Montolivo, Pazzini and little Alessandro Rosina.

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Category: Fiorentina, Results