The match played yesterday in Bari between Italy and Malta, valid for the Euro 2024 qualifiers, was not considered a high-end match by UEFA: this can be seen from the designation of the Croatian referee Struken who does not have a top-notch CV, despite being international since 2017 but how did he fare yesterday in Puglia?
Strukan’s history with the two teams
The Croatian referee, born in 1984, has no precedent with the Italian national team, not even with the under 21s, while he managed Malta only once over four years ago, in September 2019 (Romania-Malta 1-0).
Italy-Malta, the referee cautioned three players
Assisted by his compatriots Bojan Zobenica and Alen Jaksic, with fourth official Fran Jovic, the German Christian Dingert at Var and the Bulgarian Dragomir Draganov at Avar in Italy-Malta, referee Strukan booked three players, none of Spalletti’s team: P. Mbong, Yankam, Apap (M).
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Italy-Malta, the dubious episodes
These are the main cases from slow motion, in a match where there were no sensational episodes. At 17′ blue protests for a contact in the area on Kean: the attacker goes down, but first the ball is taken away from him. The referee rightly awards the corner.
Then it becomes the protagonist is the Maltese goalkeeper Bonello. In the 39th minute, in a moment of madness, he began to dance on the ball under pressure from Raspadori. The ball ends up in a corner and the goalkeeper falls to the ground. Subsequently in the 63rd minute he makes a sensational error in the clearance, effectively serving Raspadori: ball in the middle for Kean, but the Maltese defense anticipates. Finally, in the 76th minute, Bastoni scored a double opportunity: Header from a corner, blocked by a teammate. The next attempt ends up on the post, but at that point the Inter player was in an offside position. Not bad given the 4-0 final.
Source: Imago
