Panagiotis Tachtsidis failed to make a single Championship appearance for Nottingham Forest before returning to Serie A with US Lecce.
Sometimes a scoreline only tells you half the story.
And fans of Serie A newcomers Lecce will be keen to point out that The Wolves certainly didn’t return home from an opening day defeat at the San Siro with their tails between the legs. Yes, Lecce were beaten 4-0 as the Antonio Conte era begun amid wild celebrations and a sea of blue and black, but the team who finished second in Serie B last season more than held their own.
Panagiotis Tachtidis, in particular, can hold his head up high after a fine performance that was unfortunately overshadowed by truly glorious goals from Marcelo Brozovic, Stefano Sensi and Antonio Candreva, plus a typically predatory Romelu Lukaku tap-in.
A midfielder who wasn’t deemed good enough for Nottingham Forest, playing a grand total of zero games in eight months before being released, stood out on the night even with Brozovic and Sensi in superb form.
Tachtsidis’s 91 per cent pass completion rate was better than anyone else in Lecce white and one glorious curling through ball came straight out of the Andrea Pirlo-playbook. The former Roma and Olympiakos enforcer also managed more touches (74) than anyone else in Fabio Liverani’s side.
And you have to wonder what might have been if Tachtsidis arrived at Nottingham Forest in the Sabri Lamouchi era.
The former Rennes boss wants his side to be more attractive and technical in the build up and it is not hard to imagine that Tachtisidis could have been his on-field conductor.
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