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.

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.