When it comes to creativity on a football pitch, there are two key terms: half space and regista.
The half space is the area in between the middle of pitch and the wide areas, where some of the most creative players sit and plot attacks. A regista is a deep-lying playmaker who is predominantly a defensive player, but contributes a lot to the attack.
Chances are, a regista and a creative player in the half space is a midfielder. Man City’s regista is Rodri, while Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden will operate in the half spaces, as an example. Those roles could also be taken up by an inverted full-back, with Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold being another good recent case study on that.
But Inter Milan’s regista and key half space player is, somewhat bizarrely, their centre-back – his name is Alessandro Bastoni.
The Italian defender is one of the most important cogs in Simone Inzaghi’s Inter side, who have one of the best attacking set-ups on the continent, while they also conceded the fewest goals in Europe’s top five leagues last season.
When Inter build up from the back, Bastoni is a key metronome in getting the Nerazzurri far up the pitch. His ranks highly in Europe for progressive carries up the pitch, while his near-perfect passing numbers show his reliability in taking the ball in awkward areas and finding gaps.
The defender ranks second in Serie A for progressive carries up the pitch, while he is in the top 10 players in the league for overall passes and those completed in the opposition half.
But when Inter get into the final third, Bastoni’s work does not stop there. The 25-year-old’s left foot is capable of providing the key pass to unlock defences, most of the time coming from deep crosses into the penalty box.
While Bastoni is an assist threat himself, it is the unlocking of other players which makes him so important to this Inter team.
His half-space position means he often takes up the traditional left-back and centre-back roles at the same time, which is useful for one player in particular: Federico Dimarco.
The Inter wing-back – and wing-back is generous, as he is basically playing in attack – is one of the most creative players in Europe this season because of the role Bastoni plays in support. Dimarco is free to rampage down the left because he has a reliable defensive option covering him behind.
Dimarco’s freedom was shown best on Sunday night when his fierce delivery found Lautaro Martinez for Inter’s winner against Venezia. The wing-back gets on the ball more often because Bastoni is tasked with getting it to him as quickly as possible.
It has raised the question as to whether Bastoni and Dimarco are one of the best wide partnerships in Europe. “In terms of intensity, probably yes,” said the former in response to that debate earlier this year.
“I already know the movement he’ll make and how to give him the ball, we are in sync.”
But if Dimarco is all out attack and Bastoni is also creative in the final third, does that leave Inter too lopsided at times and open to counter attacks? No, there are ways around it.
The secret to Inzaghi’s success at Inter – one Serie A title, two Coppa Italias, two Italian Super Cups and a Champions League final appearance is nothing to be sniffed at – relies on a solid and interchangeable unit. With defenders bombing forward at will, the attackers are expected to do the dirty work in the other direction.
So when Dimarco and Bastoni are causing havoc down the left, it is not uncommon to see Henrikh Mhkitaryan or even Lautaro Martinez covering in defensive roles.
“If I attack, Lautaro or Mkhitaryan go in defence,” said Bastoni this year. “Everyone defends, and everyone attacks; there is a code everyone must respect. The coach wants mobility and you can see it on the pitch.”
And of course, Bastoni has to be a good defender as well as an extra body in the final third.
“I always focus on the defensive phase and I think I’ve grown this year,” said Bastoni. “I saw how [Antonio] Rudiger man-marked [Erling] Haaland in the Champions League [quarter-final this year] and I want to imitate him.”
So when Bastoni went to the Etihad Stadium for their Champions League opener at Manchester City in September, the Italian put in a superb defensive outing against Haaland and co, keeping a clean sheet in the process.
Bastoni is the latest in a long line of impressive Italian defenders going back decades. The challenge for the Italy national team is to fit him alongside Riccardo Calafiori, whose Euro 2024 heroics gave him not only cult hero status in his country, but also a move to Arsenal.
Calafiori is three years Bastoni’s junior but is cut from a similar cloth in terms of starting deep, but then affecting attacking areas. “He’s similar to the player I was three years ago,” said the Inter defender of his Arsenal counterpart.
The Bastoni-Calafiori debate could go on for years to come but for now, Inter host Arsenal in the Champions League and with the Gunners’ defenders threatening from set pieces and Inter’s fluent from open play, it promises to be an intense clash of styles.