Another nightmare in Italy, now only the playoffs remain - Football

Italy was defeated by Norway 4-1 at the San Siro in the final match in Group I of the 2026 World Cup Qualification

Taunts at San Siro for Italy. Many of the fans present had already left for a few minutes, but those who remained in the Meazza stands booed the Azzurri at the top of their lungs at the final whistle, amidst celebrations from the Norwegian fans, while the national team players left the pitch with their heads bowed.

Haaland

TARGET

At 90’+3 Italy-NORWAY 1-4 – Larsen drops the poker for Norway

Italy NORWAY 1-3 – One-two from Haaland’s goals in the 78th and 80th minutes

In the 64th minute Italy-Norway 1.1 Antonio Nusa scored a goal for the visitors

In the 11th minute ITALY-Norway 1-0. Pio Esposito scores a goal

Italian Nightmare. A match that was supposed to simply confirm the final ranking of the qualifying group – Norway straight into the World Cup, the Azzurri in play-off purgatoerium – turned sour for Gattuso’s national side, who were ultimately booed by the 70,000-strong crowd at the Meazza. This time the coach could only apologize for the bad score of 1-4 that Haaland and his teammates inflicted on his players. This huge score puts to waste the play-offs in March, whose opponents will be known on Thursday, in addition to the already known doubts about the current value of Italian football. The 4-1 with which Norway celebrated their return to the World Cup 27 years after the last time was the same difference as the initial 3-0 in Oslo: and even if the match was not completely the same (territorial dominance in the first half, the lead, almost doubled), the fragility of the Italian team was very similar and when the opponents decided to change tactics, they ended up being overwhelmed. Of course, on the other side there was a monster centre-forward who didn’t arrive for an hour and was able to turn the game around in just one minute, with another brace taking him to 16th in the group.

But the global difference in quality, when faced with Norway’s physicality or Nousa’s explosiveness, is significant. In short, Italy advanced to the play-off round without any certainty. In the rain of Milan, the Meazza gathered around the national team with lots of love and fans. There are also many Norwegian fans who come here to celebrate World Cup tickets. Gattuso fielded Italy as best he could, excluding the injured Kean and Tonali who avoided the play-offs due to warnings. Locatelli-Barella formed the central pair in front of the defense where Mancini partnered with Bastoni. Politano and Frattesi provided support for the Retegui-Pio Esposito pair, but it didn’t sting too much. The intention to attack was confirmed from the start, instead Norway was able to take advantage of the result and remained behind waiting for their attackers to provide space. Several minutes passed and the lost ball made Gattuso worried, Haaland anticipated it as he ran towards Donnarumma’s goal. Dimarco’s push was successful, in the 5th minute the first goal was scored with his right foot, a volley but high. Then in the 10th minute Italy were rewarded by an erroneous defensive release by Ryarson: Dimarco fed Pio Esposito with his back to goal, kept the ball and turned things around quickly to make it 1-0. The nine-nil required for a miraculous straight qualification was still a mirage but Italy did not stop and due to Norway’s dense defence, they lacked precision in the final pass. A good pass came in the 35th minute, headed again by Pio Esposito, who sent Dimarco’s accurate cross wide of the far post.

Tough match and Barella gets a dangerous yellow card, Gattuso calms his team. On their return, Norway tried to reverse the trend, and in the 3rd minute Sorloth had the ball twice on the right, first inside the box and then from the edge. In the middle, Locatelli made a weak shot from outside. Norway put the rhythm to sleep and robbed Italy of their weapons in the first half, a couple of balls in front of goal were missed by the Azzurri and then Nusa started the engine with his burst: the right was there in the 18th minute, the ball went in and the Leipzig winger escaped Politano-Frattesi’s control and beat Donnarumma from inside the box to make it 1-1. This was a sign that Norway had arrived, and the beginning of the blue collapse. There was nothing to lose for either of them, and opportunities alternated: in the 27th minute Nusa shot Donnarumma from a corner, a minute later he copied Dimarco at the other end. Pio Esposito got up and had two chances with a right foot kick and a header, at close range. And it was at this point that Haaland’s moment arrived, disappearing from the screen: the monster center forward turned the game around in a matter of seconds, with a left-foot volley on the Nusa-Bob combination (33′), a left-foot shot from under the goal on a Nusa escape (34′) and Norway made it 3-1. Italy slipped, while everyone on the Norwegian bench was already celebrating in the 3rd minute of stoppage time, when new substitute Strand Larsen even made it 4-1 following a lost ball from the Azzurri. It ended in mockery, a bad night