Italy 5-0 Estonia: Retegui double on strong Gattuso debut

Gennaro Gattuso had a strong Italy debut, as after wasted chances, they swept Estonia aside 5-0 with Mateo Retegui’s brace, Moise Kean, Giacomo Raspadori and Alessandro Bastoni goals.

Luciano Spalletti was sacked in June after starting this qualifying campaign with a 3-0 defeat in Norway and 2-0 win over Moldova. Gattuso changed tactics to a 4-2-3-1 formation, with both Moise Kean and Mateo Retegui upfront, but lost Gianluca Scamacca to a knee injury. Riccardo Calafiori was on the left side of the central pairing, splitting the usual bond between Inter teammates Alessandro Bastoni and Federico Dimarco. Estonia had lost three of their four games so far in this group, but only 1-0 to Norway.

See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.

Matteo Politano’s strike was deflected just wide after an early quick passing move, with Retegui befalling the same fate when turning from 12 yards.

Estonia captain Karl Hein made a desperate double save on 21 minutes, denying first Mattia Zaccagni, then the Federico Dimarco follow-up from close range.

There was a risk when Giovanni Di Lorenzo first and then Calafiori got into a muddle, gifting a corner to Estonia, but Kean fired a cross-shot beyond both Retegui and the far post.

Politano nodded a Dimarco cross over the bar from six yards, but Kean missed a huge opportunity on 38 minutes when ballooning over from 10 yards on the half-volley after Retegui cushioned a cross with his chest.

The Azzurri thought they’d scored on the stroke of half-time when Retegui got his head to the Politano cross, but Hein flew to fingertip it onto the crossbar.

Hein continued his heroics after the restart, somehow parrying a fierce Sandro Tonali volley from 14 yards when Dimarco’s cross was knocked into his path.

Italy finally took a deserved lead with a curious goal, as Retegui flicked on the Dimarco cross from the left with an aerial back-heel, setting it up perfectly for the Kean header at the back post.

Moments later, Kean almost got his second, shrugging off a defender to bend the right-foot finish around Hein and onto the base of the upright.

Hein made another fantastic reaction save, getting down to beat away the Zaccagni diving header from seven yards. Zaccagni then bent the solo effort just wide after turning a defender with a great bit of skill.

Retegui eventually made it 2-0 with a snooker shot from the edge of the area into the near bottom corner after the give and go with Giacomo Raspadori.

Just 90 seconds later, Raspadori added a goal to his assist, ready with the diving header from seven yards on the ball stood up at the by-line from his ex-Napoli teammate Politano.

However, Gianluigi Donnarumma was called into action for the first time with a strong one-handed save on Sappinen, who had been allowed to turn on the edge of the box.

An acrobatic Riccardo Orsolini scissor-kick volley was charged down before Inter striker Francesco Pio Esposito made his senior debut.

Retegui completed his brace in the final minute, ready to peel away from his marker and nod in from seven yards on the Andrea Cambiaso cross from the left. The Juventus winger had hooked a long ball with admirable skill.

It wasn’t over, as a corner was taken short for Raspadori to float a cross to the back post for Alessandro Bastoni’s glancing header.

Italy 5-0 Estonia

Kean 58 (I), Retegui 69, 89 (I), Raspadori 71 (I), Bastoni 92 (I)