What the Italian media are saying about Sandro Tonali after his ‘absurd’ Newcastle United goal
Dan Murphy
3 – 4 minutes
Sandro Tonali has sent Italian media nearly as wild as Newcastle United fans after his ‘spectacular’ goal in the win over Brentford.
Newcastle United were forced to wake up from the dream after winning the Carabao Cup as they returned to Premier League action on Wednesday.
With Champions League qualification now the priority, the partying came to an end in a difficult match against Brentford at St. James’ Park.
Eddie Howe’s side started brightly but the Bees fought back to make things difficult. Still, Alexander Isak struck on the stroke of half-time to take the lead.
Brentford came back firing after the break, though, and levelled through Bryan Mbuemo’s penalty after Nick Pope fouled Yoane Wissa in the box.
Newcastle were rocked and just as their visitors looked to press the issue, Sandro Tonali struck with a bizarre and brilliant goal to secure the three points.
Media in Tonali’s native Italy have been reacting to his goal.
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Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images
Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images
What Italian press are saying about Sandro Tonali goal vs Brentford
Goal Italy led the praise for Tonali’s strike, labelling it as ‘spectacular’ before writing: “Tonali scored an incredible goal, blasting the ball into the net from a very tight angle with a powerful shot that left the opposing goalkeeper with no chance.”
Sky Sports Italia called it an ‘absurd’ goal, while Corriere dello Sport wrote: “Right-footed shot from a difficult angle and long range on the right, an almost impossible goal!”
Finally, Gazzetta dello Sport called ita ‘masterpiece’ and a ‘wonder’, while writing: “A Tonali magic launches Newcastle into the Champions League zone.
“The Italian, on the right sideline, unleashes a ground-to-air cross that surprises everyone, ends up in the top corner and decides the match against Brentford.”
It wasn’t only the Italian press that was left amazed by Tonali’s goal, though, as English media were just as enthused by the effort.
BBC pundit Pat Nevin said: “Where on Earth did that come from?
“The angle that Tonali shot that from, you have no right to score from there.
“99.9% of times that’s a cross but he has pinged it in. I can’t promise he meant it but that is some goal.”
Speaking on Sky Sports, pundit Jay Bothroyd described it as the ‘goal of the season and added: “He has definitely meant that! That is such a great goal.”
However, Tonali himself has admitted he didn’t really mean it by saying his effort was: “70% a cross, 30% a shot.”
He then told journalist Keith Downie: “I want to be honest…it was a cross.”
However, after the match, Howe revealed in his post-match press conference that Tonali has practised and scored the shot before in training.
