Giacomo Raspadori’s wonderful control and strike allowed Italy to beat England, relegating the Three Lions to Nations League B, and sending the Azzurri into second place.
Going into the penultimate round, Hungary were top of the group with seven points, Germany six, Italy five and England two.
The Azzurri were decimated by injuries, losing Ciro Immobile this morning after Sandro Tonali, Marco Verratti, Lorenzo Pellegrini, Matteo Politano, Domenico Berardi, Lorenzo Insigne, Federico Chiesa, Manuel Locatelli, Leonardo Spinazzola and Alessandro Florenzi, so Roberto Mancini shifted to a 3-5-2 formation. England had John Stones suspended, plus Kalvin Phillips, Jordan Henderson, Ivan Toney, Ben Chilwell and Marc Guehi out of action.
It was a strong Italy start, Federico Dimarco’s cross finding Gianluca Scamacca at the back post, a header parried from point-blank range by Nick Pope.
Bryan Cristante’s shot was charged down and Harry Kane fired high and wide from distance in a dire first half.
Straight after the restart, Dimarco’s cross for Francesco Acerbi was well intercepted, sparking a counter from which Leonardo Bonucci brought down Raheem Sterling just outside the box.
Kane was involved in a clash of heads with Rafael Toloi and Nicolò Barella prodded wide on Dimarco’s low cross, although the offside flag was up anyway.
Toloi had to make the right interception on a Kane cross to avoid an own goal from six yards, while Raspadori’s cross-shot stung Pope’s gloves after a cheeky Giovanni Di Lorenzo back-heel flick.
The deadlock was finally broken when Bonucci’s ball over the top was trapped by a fantastic Raspadori first touch, he cut inside Kyle Walker and curled right-footed into the far bottom corner from just inside the penalty area.
England had to fight back, as defeat here would mean automatic relegation to League B, so Gigio Donnarumma dribbled away from Kane pressure, then made the double save on the striker’s two efforts at the near post.
Manolo Gabbiadini got his first cap in five years and immediately forced a save from Pope’s legs, then the move continued and Dimarco’s effort was deflected onto the upright.
Bryan Cristante also blasted over from a promising position and Willy Gnonto had an effort charged down by Eric Dier, Declan Rice firing straight at Donnarumma in stoppages and a Jude Bellingham header landing on the roof of the net.
Italy 1-0 England
Raspadori 68 (I)
well done, deserved the win
Makes it even more frustrating that Italy won’t be going to the world cup. With the players to come back into the team, Italy could have at least made the semis.
3 matches too late 🙁