Many discovered Riccardo Calafiori’s talent during UEFA Euro 2024.
He shone with the Azzurri thanks to his excellent defensive and playmaking performances despite Italy’s overall bad tournament and unconvincing collective performances.
Despite Italy’s poor run of form, Calafiori successfully attracted the attention of most of those who watched Italy’s group-stage games, as he was crucial in most.
Even though he did commit some mistakes, he made up for them with a crucial assist in the last minutes of the game against Croatia; Mattia Zaccagni’s goal offered Italy a qualification ticket to the knockout phase.
Serie A followers got to know Calafiori a bit earlier, as he stood out massively during the 2023/24 campaign at Bologna after spending a season at Basel.
Before that, Calafiori had played for AS Roma from 2020 until being loaned out to Genoa for half a season.
During the last couple of seasons, Calafiori has shown remarkable performance progress.
He has become very mature, strong in duels, quick, talented in passing and vision, and able to score goals in various ways.
All these traits are not easy to acquire as a defender, and Calafiori’s current level is undoubtedly exceptional for him and the Italian national team.
Therefore, Calafiori’s primary objective for the moment will be to know how to remain consistent in terms of powerful and convincing performances despite playing in a league that develops quickly each season and is very competitive, like the Premier League.
What is also positively surprising for the Italian defender is that he quickly adapted to the Premier League’s playing style and got into Arsenal’s system quickly and fluidly, thanks not only to his willingness to adjust but also to Mikel Arteta’s tactics and his teammates, who made things a bit easier for him as well.
Therefore, in this tactical analysis and scout report, we will explore the Italian defender’s development and how Riccardo Calafiori’s style of play has adapted at Arsenal to become one of the top defenders in the Premier League.
The analysis will cover Calafiori’s defensive side, playmaking, and goalscoring aspects to study the player’s complete profile and highlight his current strengths.
Riccardo Calafiori Defensive Abilities
Calafiori is becoming one of the most intelligent defenders in terms of interceptions and knowing how to win duels without really being particularly aggressive.
This means that Calafiori often succeeds in winning the ball with elegance without resorting to committing many fouls per game.
With 61.5% of defensive duels won, we can argue that Calafiori holds a very high rate of one-on-one defensive duels, whether on the wings or near the box.
Calafiori often relies on his quick reflexes and ability to predict the direct opponent’s next move to clear the ball or win it back when the opponent tries to cut inside, penetrate near the goal line, or cross from the wing.
Calafiori does not hesitate to slide tackles when needed, especially when facing tough/quick opponents.
Once again, he usually succeeds in timing these sliding tackles accurately so that they touch the ball, not the player.
Lately, Calafiori was put to a complicated test when Arsenal faced PSG in the Champions League.
In this match, he had to mark the winger Désiré Doué and a quick and talented player like Hakimi, knowing that Hakimi is a right-back who advances a lot and creates plenty of overlaps on the wing per game.
One remarkable action shows Hakimi getting the ball and trying to turn quickly as he was about to surpass Calafiori and get near the goal.
Calafiori’s reaction to this action shows great talent, maturity, determination, and physical strength.
In a second, he knew that Hakimi was getting a bit ahead of him, so he jumped with a sort of sliding tackle to clear the ball away despite Hakimi’s ball protection attempts as he advanced.
Although such defensive action was risky, it highlights Calafiori’s defensive talent, strong personality and confidence in his abilities.
With 5.3 interceptions, Calafiori also helps a lot with his interceptions of passes destined for players at the back of the defensive line.
Reading the game and being usually well-positioned defensively to anticipate passes to players at his back makes Calafiori an instrumental defender to any team.
His experience as a centre-back, especially in 3-5-2 formations, made him capable of mastering the left-back role at Arsenal.
He provides more defensive balance to the defensive line while being dangerous upfront whenever he advances.
The following action highlights the Italian’s ability to anticipate crossing attempts and clear the ball away, thanks to his correct positioning and regular movement without the ball.
Such clearances might look normal to certain people.
Still, they are critical to helping the team avoid conceding goalscoring opportunities, knowing that a French player was waiting to finish the action if Calafiori was not well-positioned and reactive enough in this action.
Riccardo Calafiori Playmaking And Penetration Skills
Calafiori is distinguished for his excellent penetration abilities; the ball carries in midfield and sometimes inside the final third.
His balance, agility and ability to dribble past opponents make him a player who is a significant threat to opponents when he advances with the ball.
Suppose we add to this his ability to provide critical passes when he advances.
In that case, Calafiori is undoubtedly a player who can be very effective for Arsenal and Italy in terms of playmaking and goalscoring.
The following graphic highlights the high number of Calafiori’s ball progressions in the last period and shows whether these ball carries ended with successful dribbles.
This graphic implies that Calafiori has attempted numerous successful ball carries.
Yet, he can improve the quality of his dribbles following these ball carries to become even more dangerous up front.
Riccardo Calafiori Ball Progression Map
To consolidate this graphic’s idea, we cannot overlook the most famous action of Calafiori during UEFA Euro 2024 against Croatia when he exchanged passes with his teammates and was able to advance with the ball until reaching the edge of the box prior to providing a beautiful assist to Zaccagni.
Being able to break a whole team’s defence while starting the action from defence and finishing it with an assist that requires just one touch to finish the action in goal highlights Calafiori’s strong personality, confidence, footballing intelligence, and excellent and quick decision-making.
In addition to providing assists and key passes following his ball carries, Calafiori can also deal with complicated passes or crosses and still be crucial in his team’s attacking actions.
The following assist example against Inter Milan was executed when Calafiori played for Bologna.
It highlights the acrobatic moves he is capable of making to reach the ball before it goes out of play while providing a pivotal pass to his teammate.
Coming from a defender, this action shows a lot of body coordination and intelligent decision-making inside the box, proving how valuable Calafiori can be from a defensive and playmaking perspective.
Since Calafiori played a lot as a left-back in his career, whether with Bologna or now at Arsenal, he is characterised by outstanding crossing skills.
He masters early crosses and crosses near the goal line, knowing that his passing accuracy to the final third currently reaches 73.7%.
This assist against Roma shows that Calafiori can also create spectacular plays and contribute to creating beautiful goals, thanks to his accurate crosses.
In this example, he made his teammate finish the action with a stunning volley.
Riccardo Calafiori Goalscoring Ability
Calafiori has a strong personality and does not disappear in terms of performance in the big games.
This fact has been confirmed on numerous occasions, especially lately against Manchester City, when he scored a crucial goal in one of the most important games this season, if not the most important one for Arsenal.
Deciding to shoot when everyone waited for a cross or a pass and succeeding in shooting with accuracy and power to confuse a goalkeeper like Ederson is not given to anyone, and it shows that Calafiori still has a lot to offer in terms of crucial goals.
It is also important to note that Calafiori attempts 2.51 progressive runs per match, touches the ball inside the box an average of 1.37 times, and scores 0.08 goals per game.
These numbers imply that Calafiori does his best to seize goalscoring opportunities but does not always succeed.
The statistics also confirm that he usually successfully attempts progressive runs and scores more than his actual xG.
Therefore, it would be very wise for Arteta to continue relying on Calafiori in the playmaking process, encourage him to aim at shooting from distance and make him more crucial in terms of headers during set-pieces, as the Italian has the potential to become a vital goalscorer for Arsenal.
This pizza graphic resumes Calafiori’s strengths and weaknesses and shows his ability in terms of positioning, aerial duels, accurate passing, and shots per game.
Although he can still improve regarding goal contribution, defensive duels, and dribbling, Calafiori is already becoming a powerful left-back and centre-back when needed.
Riccardo Calafiori Radar Chart
Conclusion
Riccardo Calafiori is one of the best rising Italian defenders and is already becoming a key player in the Azzurri’s defence.
Adapting well and quickly to Arsenal’s playing style, being immediately important in their squad, and understanding the Premier League playing style can only mean that Calafiori has an excellent mentality, wants to learn and develop, and strives to impose himself thanks to his superb performances so far.
By preserving the same positive mentality and succeeding in keeping up his level of performance, Calafiori has the potential to become among the best defenders in the world in the years to come.
