Italy are in the Nations League Final Four after their 2-0 victory away to Hungary, thanks to Giacomo Raspadori and Federico Dimarco goals, plus some incredible Gianluigi Donnarumma saves.
The Azzurri knew only a victory would be enough to win the group and reach the Final Four, but they were missing numerous players including Ciro Immobile, Marco Verratti, Lorenzo Pellegrini, Matteo Politano, Sandro Tonali, Domenico Berardi, Lorenzo Insigne, Federico Chiesa, Alessandro Florenzi and Manuel Locatelli. The 3-5-2 formation was confirmed after beating England 1-0, bringing in only Wilfried Gnonto for Gianluca Scamacca. Marco Rossi’s Hungary were top with 10 points after beating England and Germany, but lost 2-1 to Italy in June.
There were emotional scenes before kick-off with a video of Adam Szalai’s career highlights and he burst into tears during the national anthem, as this was his final game before international retirement.
See how it unfolded on the Liveblog
Italy almost took the lead after five minutes when Peter Gulasci horribly fumbled a Bryan Cristante cross and it was cleared off the line by Attila Szalai.
Giovanni Di Lorenzo nodded a Giacomo Raspadori free kick wide, but the deadlock was broken after Italy’s high press forced a double error with Nicolò Barella from Attila Szalai and then Gnonto on Gulasci, allowing Raspadori to deposit into the empty net.
Di Lorenzo almost made it 2-0, a wonderful first touch to control a floated ball, cut inside and curl inches wide of the far post.
Hungary tried to fight back, but Attila Fiola couldn’t get the shot away from six yards after a free kick, while Milos Kerkez flung himself in the way of a Raspadori shot inside the area.
Gianluigi Donnarumma missed a Dominik Szoboszlai free kick to the far post, which was volleyed back in by Adam Lang and Attila Szalai failed to get the tap-in.
Straight after the restart, Hungary had a triple chance in one move, Donnarumma parrying the Loic Nego cross-shot, then Di Lorenzo’s block on Dominik Szoboszlai and finally Donnarumma with a desperate save on Szalai.
It proved crucial, because Italy then doubled their lead when Cristante ran onto a through ball and pulled back from the by-line for Dimarco to meet it at the far post. That was Italy’s 1,500th goal.
Donnarumma had to make another incredible save, using his legs to deny a Callum Styles header from point-blank range at the back stick on the Nego cross, then had to readjust when a Styles shot took a massive deflection.
Alessandro Bastoni was fortunate that VAR and the referee chose not to intervene when he seemed to clip Martin Adam’s heel in the box.
Dimarco’s angled drive forced a tough save in the final minutes, but Gianluca Scamacca fired the rebound onto the side-netting.
Hungary 0-2 Italy
Raspadori 27 (I), Dimarco 52 (I)
Forza Italia!!!
Bright future for Raspadori.