Moise Kean celebrates scoring for Italy against Israel in the World Cup qualifier (@azzurri)
Gennaro Gattuso’s Italy twice fought back from a goal down to eventually beat Israel 5-4, moving into second place of their World Cup qualifying group after a truly chaotic encounter.
New coach Gattuso made the ideal debut with a 5-0 victory over Estonia, but moved from a 4-2-3-1 formation to more of a 3-5-2, with Manuel Locatelli bolstering the midfield in place of injured Mattia Zaccagni. Gianluca Mancini also stepped into defence for Riccardo Calafiori. Israel were second in Group I on 9 points from 4 games, having won five of their last six matches, interrupted by a 4-2 thriller with Norway. Due to the on-going security situation, this was played on neutral turf at the Nagyerdei Stadion in Debrecen, Hungary.
See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.
Alessandro Bastoni had to scramble the Dan Biton pull-back from the by-line out for a corner after Gianluigi Donnarumma was beaten. On the resulting corner, Israel had the ball in the net, but only after the referee spotted a Stav Lemkin foul on the Italy captain.
Lemkin injured himself while fouling Moise Kean moments later and had to be substituted with a suspected hamstring tweak.
Nicolò Barella almost gifted a goal with a weak back-pass that Donnarumma scrambled clear from Eliel Peretz, but the Azzurri did not learn from those errors.
Biton again got to the by-line by drawing Donnarumma out, this time from the right flank, and this time Locatelli got his slide all wrong to intercept, accidentally prodding it into his own net from three yards.
Mateo Retegui had a couple of efforts charged down, but Barella should’ve shot rather than attempted an assist for the ex-Atalanta striker from 14 yards.
The Nazionale were unlucky with two huge chances on 31 minutes, as first Locatelli’s acrobatic half-volley on a Retegui knockdown clipped the crossbar from 12 yards. Moments later, Mancini pulled back from the by-line only for Moise Kean to fire wide from seven yards.
Donnarumma smothered Dor Peretz and Biton attempts, while Sandro Tonali’s snapshot skimmed the upright from outside the area.
The equaliser arrived when Retegui knocked down a long Barella ball over the top for Kean, who took a touch from the edge of the area before drilling low into the near bottom corner with his right boot.
Sandro Tonali intercepted a wayward pass straight after the restart to set up Kean, forcing a big save from 12 yards on the Fiorentina striker.
Instead, Israel restored their advantage when Manor Solomon was allowed to wander down the left flank, cut inside and roll across for Dor Peretz to smash the finish into the top corner from 13 yards.
Italy responded immediately, as moments later Retegui knocked down another ball over the top for Kean to fire in first time with his right foot from just inside the box.
The Azzurri took the lead for the first time in this match and, just like against Estonia, Retegui shone with a cheeky back-heel flick assist. This time his back was to goal as he flicked on a long throw-in for Politano to come sliding in from six yards with the angled drive.
Biton’s diving free header at the back post hit the side-netting, while Retegui nodded just over from a Federico Dimarco cross.
Donnarumma had to be on his toes to flap a deflected Solomon cross out from under the crossbar, then a minute later he rushed off his line to clear from Dor Peretz, it fell kindly to Tai Baribo, who was denied by the desperate Locatelli goal-line clearance.
Having survived that scare, the Azzurri made it 4-2 with a well-worked team move. Davide Frattesi combined with Tonali, then threaded through for Giacomo Raspadori to sweep in from six yards.
It still wasn’t over, as Bastoni scored an own goal with a comically shinned clearance on the Roy Revivo cross, giving Donnarumma no chance.
Italy’s defending was then woeful again on a set play, the ball over the top nodded down by Biton for the Dor Peretz free header from a couple of yards to draw level at 4-4.
However, in stoppages Tonali’s hopeful ball into the box went through a sea of legs to surprise everyone and accidentally slot into the far bottom corner and restore the advantage.
The panic continued to the final whistle, with Giovanni Di Lorenzo’s header taking the cross away from Revivo in a very strong position, as Italy risked throwing it away again.
Israel 4-5 Italy
Locatelli og 16 (Is), Kean 40, 54 (It), Dor Peretz 52, 89 (Is), Politano 58 (It), Raspadori 81 (It), Bastoni og 87 (Is), Tonali 91 (It)
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