Roberto Mancini’s Italy caught the third win out of three games and extended their non-losing streak to 25 games as they cruised past Lithuania in their last World Cup Qualifiers test in this international break. The Azzurri thus took the lead of Group C with nine points – three more than Switzerland who played only two matches so far.
Wednesday night’s match on the artificial turf of the LFF Stadium in Vilnius confirmed what seen in the previous two games, with Italy comfortably besting their opponents but appearing less brilliant compared to their last Nations League tests from the past Winter.
Coach Mancini rotated most of his men, changing ten players versus Sunday night’s game in Bulgaria, with the sole Gianluigi Donnarumma retaining his starting spot. Brazilian naturalized defender Rafael Toloi made his debut for the Azzurri and was deployed as right back, with Emerson Palmieri covering the opposite flank.
On the front line, Ciro Immobile received the baton from Andrea Belotti in the central striker position, supported by Federico Bernardeschi and Roma’s comeback kid Stephan El Shaarawy.
The eleven #Azzurri starters this evening ??#LITITA #WCQ #VivoAzzurro pic.twitter.com/CI83g2X2XQ
— Italy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@azzurri) March 31, 2021
Roma’s Faraone was among those expected to get the best out of their chance with the Nazionale, but on 39 minutes he missed an incredible chance to put Italy ahead from a Matteo Pessina assist. That was the only noteworthy event in a pretty colorless first half.
Italy found the back of the net just two minutes after the restart with a Stefano Sensi conclusion from out of the box. The Inter midfielder had just replaced Lorenzo Pellegrini. The second goal came during stoppage time as Ciro Immobile buried the spot after Niccolò Barella was fouled in the box.
In between the two goals, the Azzurri had several occasions to round up the scoring but found goalkeeper Tomas Svedkauskas on their way – one who knows Italy very well as spent six years in the Belpaese, including stints at Roma and Fiorentina youth academies.
Svedkauskas was monumental in denying Manuel Locatelli, but Donnarumma also had some work to do as he stopped Lithuania’s only scoring attempt coming from substitute Tautvydas Eliosius.
It ended as widely expected, with the Azzurri catching the third 2-0 win in a row and closing their first triptyque of games on the way to Qatar 2022 with a perfect record. That is more than enough for now.
#WCQ ?
? Leading the way in Group C ?#LITITA #WCQ #VivoAzzurro ?? pic.twitter.com/ApVr8h2izV
— Italy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@azzurri) March 31, 2021
MATCH REPORT
March 31, 2021 – World Cup 2022 Qualifiers Group C
LITHUANIA-ITALY 0-2
SCORERS: 47′ Sensi, 94′ Immobile pen.
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LITHUANIA (4-5-1): Svedkauskas; Girdvainis, Beneta, Valtkunas, Mikoliunas (76′ Gaspuitis); Novikovas, Dapkus, Simkus (86′ Petravicius), Slivka, Sirgedas (58′ Eliosius); Cernych (75′ Kazlauskas) (Baravykas, Lasickas, Valskis, Silkaitis, Romanovskij, Laukzemis, Driomovas, Adamoni) Coach: Urbonas |
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ITALY (4-3-3): Donnarumma; Toloi, G. Mancini, Bastoni (86′ Acerbi), Emerson (56′ Spinazzola); Pellegrini (46′ Sensi), Locatelli, Pessina (61′ Barella); Bernardeschi, Immobile, El Shaarawy (46′ Chiesa) (Meret, Sirigu, Bonucci, Di Lorenzo, Lazzari, Insigne, Chiesa, Belotti) Coach: R. Mancini |
REFEREE: Raczkowski (Poland)
NOTES: Yellow Cards: Simkus, Vaitkunas, Kazlauskas (L), Pellegrini, Pessina, Locatelli (I)