Gennaro Gattuso got off to a perfect start as Italy manager with a dominant 5-0 win over Estonia. The result keeps Italy’s hopes of qualifying for the World Cup alive, while Estonia remain without a win in this fixture, that’s eight defeats in a row against Italy.
Italy were all over Estonia from the first whistle. Matteo Politano went close just three minutes in, and Federico Dimarco missed a couple of good chances. Despite all the pressure, it took 20 minutes before Estonia’s keeper Karl Hein was tested, and he pulled off a number of good saves to keep the score level at half-time.
But Estonia’s defence couldn’t hold out forever. In the 58th minute, Moise Kean headed in from close range after a flick from Mateo Retegui.
After that, Italy stepped things up. Giacomo Raspadori came off the bench and helped turn the game into a rout. He set up Retegui for Italy’s second, then scored the third himself with a diving header. Soon after, Retegui headed in his second goal from Andrea Cambiaso’s cross.
Alessandro Bastoni completed the scoring with another header after a quick corner.
The win gives Italy six points from three games in Group I. Estonia, meanwhile, are stuck on three points from five matches and have now lost ten games in a row against teams ranked in the world’s top 30.
