And while last night many Italians were focused on the Azzurri’s 4-1 win, 1200 km away from Udine, at the Stade Roi-Bauduin in Brussels, Manu was stealing the show in the midfield of the world’s strongest national team.

Emmanuel Kouadio Kone. A name that is already familiar to Roma fans and is beginning to be recognized in France, even in a midfield that boasts the likes of Eduardo Camavinga and Aurélien Tchouaméni. Both with the Bleus and with Roma. Last night, against Belgium, the former Gladbach player took the field as a right half in a three-man midfield, with the Giallorossi he is almost always deployed as a defensive midfielder alongside Cristante in a two-man line, and last September 9 – again against Tedesco’s national team – he led a three-man midfield positioned between Kante and Guendouzi. No matter where he’s deployed, Manu always knows what to do. His physicality, ball recovery, dribbling and leadership: even yesterday’s performance – where he was left standing alone next to Camavinga, against a Belgian team desperately seeking an equaliser with 11 against 10 – was masterful. In the first half, he enjoyed more freedom as a half wing, which his heatmap also testifies to, and in the second, he was ever-flawless in thwarting the incursions of the Red Devils. With fifty-five touches (more than anyone else if we exclude Tchouaméni and the two center-backs), 4 fouls suffered, victorious in 9 out of 13 duels, and no successful opponent’s dribbling against him; which added to a goal annulled due to a handball by Kolo Muani. One who is yet to explode and secure his place. Manu, born in 2001, is now 23 years old and certainly has the potential to improve. However, given his performances, his starting place shouldn’t even be up for discussion.