Italy 3-0 Israel: Retegui double to guarantee play-off spot

Mateo Retegui stepped up with two goals, plus Gianluca Mancini’s header, as Italy beat Israel 3-0 in a strange atmosphere to lock down that World Cup play-off place, but it was far from a convincing performance.

The Azzurri squeezed past 5-4 last month in a chaotic match, and this became a head-to-head for second place behind runaway leaders Norway. Alessandro Bastoni was suspended and Moise Kean injured after the 3-1 win over Estonia, so Gianluca Mancini and Manuel Locatelli stepped in, moving Giacomo Raspadori to a centre-forward role in a switch to 3-5-2. Israel missed Idan Nachmias following a 5-0 loss in Norway.

See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.

Andrea Cambiaso and Raspadori scuffed their finishes after some quick passes, but Oscar Gloukh also drilled inches past the post after Anan Khalaili got away from Riccardo Calafiori down the right.

Gianluigi Donnarumma needed a fantastic fingertip save to push the Manor Solomon strike over the bar on a rapid counter started after what seemed a clear foul on Raspadori.

Retegui got in front of Matan Baltaxa and was caught in the back of the ankle for a penalty, so days after missing against Estonia, he insisted on stepping up again. While his finish in Tallinn was weak after a stuttering run-up, here Retegui smashed the finish into the roof of the net.

Inter striker Francesco Pio Esposito, fresh from his first senior goal for Italy, replaced Raspadori for the second half. He helped lay off the ball for Nicolò Barella’s volley just over the bar, but Tai Baribo wasted a promising counter-attack by firing high and wide too.

Donnarumma was called into his second big save, getting down low to parry the Gloukh daisy-cutter with one glove after a poor Giovanni Di Lorenzo pass sparked the counter-attack.

Cambiaso had the ball in the net on 66 minutes, but was visibly offside on the Pio Esposito assist.

Retegui doubled Italy’s lead and his own personal tally with a solo goal, as he robbed substitute Stav Toriel in the final third and immediately bent a fantastic right-foot curler into the far top corner from the edge of the area, giving the goalkeeper no chance. It was his fifth goal in the last four games for the Nazionale.

Solomon could only hit the side-netting from a tight angle after Donnarumma and Calafiori collided. There was a similar scenario at the other end when Retegui intercepted a Glazer pass and tried to roll across for Esposito, but the goalkeeper and a teammate made the desperate block.

There was a goal-line clearance to deny Calafiori’s header on a Tonali corner, followed by an acrobatic Mancini effort. Moments later, Mancini did get the third goal with a header on another corner kick, his first senior strike for the Nazionale.

Roberto Piccoli and Nicolò Cambiaghi also got to make their senior debuts.

Italy 3-0 Israel

Retegui pen 45+1 (It), 74 (It), Mancini 93 (It)