Pussetto, here is an opportunity to prove that he is back what he once was

UDINE. A year ago these days, with Udinese’s attack reduced to a minimum (Okaka and Llorente), the Udinese fans regretted every other day the absence of Ignacio Pussetto put out of action at the beginning of January in 2021 from a knee injury during the match in Turin with Juventus.

Today the Argentine in Cioffi’s hierarchies (they will also all be owners but then there are those who always play and who little) can be considered the fourth choice. In front of him are Deulofeu, Beto and Success, the numbers say so.

With the Portuguese and the Nigerian put out of action by muscle problems, Saturday against Sassuolo the Argentine presents the opportunity to prove that he is back to what he once was.

Yes, because after the injury to the cruciate ligament Nacho was no longer the brilliant and quick attacker who, with his accelerations, sent the opposing defenders into apnea.

He had confessed it himself immediately after returning from the injury that he still felt pain and did not feel one hundred percent. With Gotti, who doted on him, he had started the starter (on matchday 2 with Venezia he had unlocked the result) on seven occasions, with Cioffi only in two: with Atalanta and with Salernitana to which we must add the Coppa Italia match. with Crotone in which he had signed a brace. In total there were 26 appearances, of which 17 during the race in progress.

And when the balance came in, it wasn’t too bad either: he gave the shock in the final with Torino by getting and realizing the 2-0 penalty in the recovery, he scored with Empoli the goal of 3-1, that of safety, and on Sunday with Inter he reopened the match in the second half.

Now that the competition has reduced (there is only Nestorovski to contend with him for the place considering Deulofeu untouchable) Pussetto has to give his season a breakthrough: there are three games to show that starting often from the bench was not the solution he deserved. To do this he must play well and above all score goals.

With him in place of Success, Udinese certainly loses something in physicality, but gains in depth and speed. The best version of him, and it was no coincidence, was seen at the end of 2020 when Gotti had put him alongside Deulofeu in 3-5-2.

Result? Goal in Rome with Lazio, an encore at the Olimpico in Turin against the grenade on the verticalization of the Spaniard. Who knows that against the Sassuolo high defense Nacho will not really go back to being the Argentine arrow he was before that damned injury.