Italy beat Estonia to keep WC hopes alive
Italy celebrated a fourth-straight World Cup qualifying win with a comfortable 3-1 Group I victory over Estonia in Tallinn.
The visitors ensured they kept the pressure on Norway — who currently top the group — and victory meant they pulled three points clear of Israel with a game in hand.
Moise Kean carried on his rich vein of form in front of goal for his country with his fourth goal in qualifying, which put Italy ahead before Mateo Retegui doubled their lead.
Francesco Pio Esposito came off the bench to claim his first goal for Italy but Estonia were able to get on the scoresheet after being dominated through the contest when Rauno Sappinen capitalised on Gianluigi Donnarumma’s mistake.
Italy were threatening from the off and Estonia goalkeeper Karl Hein was forced into his first save to deny Giacomo Raspadori in the fourth minute.
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However there was nothing he could do to stop Italy from taking the lead through Kean, less than a minute later.
The 25-year-old weaved his way into the area and produced a few stepovers to bamboozle the Estonian defenders before he caressed his effort into the far corner.
Italy were given the chance to double their tally from the penalty spot after Marten Kuusk brought down Retegui inside the area.
Retegui picked himself up and aimed right, but Hein guessed right and superbly palmed the ball onto the post and Estonia dealt with the follow-up to keep the deficit at one.
He was not to be denied his goal when he finally got Italy’s second seven minutes before the break.
A dangerous cross was headed into the path of Riccardo Orsolini, who fed it back across for Retegui who expertly dispatched the ball high into the net.
They could have made it three on the stroke of half time but Hein was called into action again to stop Pio Esposito’s header from going in.
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Estonia did not pose much of a threat and it took 50 minutes for them to have their first shot but Vlasiy Sinyavskiy’s strike was high and wide following a fast move.
There was very little Estonia could do to stop the flow of Italian attacks though, Nicolò Barella picked out Orsolini inside the area but he failed to put the end product on target.
Italy netted their third in the 74th minute following a lovely move down the left, Leonardo Spinazzola played a cross on the floor to Pio Esposito, who guided it home.
To Italy’s shock, Estonia got themselves on the scoresheet a couple of minutes later largely thanks to an error from Manchester City’s Donnarumma.
A routine cross was put into the box and Donnarumma looked to easily deal with it but he dropped the ball in front of Sappinen, who was on hand to poke home for a consolation goal for the home side.