Silvan Widmer’s incredible strike was cancelled out by a smart move finished by Giovanni Di Lorenzo, when Jorginho missed another penalty in Italy’s 1-1 draw with Switzerland on Friday night.
Switzerland seemed eager to push the Italians back and were determined to give the Azzurri a game for the three points.
The midfield battle started in favour of the Swiss, who kept on giving the home side a hard time, but when the Azzurri finally established in the visitors’ half, was when the first goal arrived.
However, it was at the other end, as Murat Yakin’s men broke and countered at left with Noah Okafor, who accelerated to beat Giovanni Di Lorenzo in a battle for the free ball and did enough to let his teammates arrive at the edge of the Italy box.
Okafor pulled it back to a Silvan Widmer charging forward and the former Udinese defender struck the ball perfectly from 25 yards out.
Gianluigi Donnarumma barely reacted before the ball was in the back of the net and the guests had taken the lead after 11 minutes.
It was a wake-up call for Roberto Mancini’s men and the CT seemed more and more frustrated in the dugout.
The players tried to respond and Nicolò Barella came very close when Jorginho’s attempt was blocked and ended up at his feet from six yards.
Yann Sommer, however, did well to react in time and blocked the attempt from the Inter midfielder.
Eventually, the Azzurri responded from a great free kick by Lorenzo Insigne, who made a dummy with Emerson Palmieri before swinging it in with his right foot.
The timing was perfect by Giovanni Di Lorenzo who beat Yann Sommer to the ball and helped Italy respond before half-time.
The Napoli full-back grabbed the equaliser after 36 minutes and the Azzurri had the momentum going in at the interval.
But it was back to square one when the teams came back out from the dressing rooms and Mancini decide to make changes early on.
After 58 minutes, he introduced Sandro Tonali and Domenico Berardi, taking off Manuel Locatelli and Andrea Belotti, who both gave the team some fresh legs for a while.
But the biggest chance came with Insigne, who cut inside from a short corner kick and his effort went via Zakaria on its way to the target and Sommer did well to stop the deflection.
Italy introduced further players and tried everything to grab the winner, while Switzerland were also pushing for a possible opportunity.
When the ball was played over the top to Berardi, substitute Ulisses Garcia was late for the duel and pushed the winger in the back. He went down but referee Anthony Taylor didn’t give anything.
VAR checked the situation and called for the English referee to take another look, and the match official eventually pointed at the penalty spot.
Jorginho stepped up right before time and decided against the famous jump before the finish and this time he smashed it over the bar, his second miss from the spot against Switzerland and Sommer.
The guests threatened to score at the other end immediately, when Zakaria went on a solo run, dropped the ball but continued to chase the back pass to Donnarumma.
The Italy goalkeeper’s pass was blocked by the Gladbach player and ended up at the feet of Andi Zeqiri, who only had to direct it towards the open goal. But his contact was not pure and it went wide.
A dramatic end to a slow second half and both teams leave with one point each and status quo in Group C. Italy and Switzerland are separated by two goals, as the Azzurri are still in the lead after the draw in Rome.