Israel Vs Italy: Sandro Tonali Saves Azzurri With Late Strike In Thrilling 5-4 Win

Last Updated:September 09, 2025, 08:14 IST

An unusual winner from Sandro Tonali secured three points after unusually poor defending nearly left Italy's qualification hopes hanging by a thread.

Sandro Tonali celebrates with teammates after scoring the winner. (AFP Photo)

Sandro Tonali secured a thrilling 5-4 victory for Italy against Israel on Monday with a decisive late goal in the 2026 World Cup qualifier, just as it seemed the Azzurri were heading towards another crisis. Newcastle United midfielder Tonali celebrated in stoppage time when his speculative shot passed through a crowd of players and into the net, winning a rollercoaster match in Debrecen, Hungary, which Italy appeared to have squandered.

The Azzurri, who have missed the last two World Cups, were leading 4-2 in the 81st minute when substitute Giacomo Raspadori scored almost immediately after replacing the impressive Moise Kean, who netted Italy’s first two goals.

However, a clumsy Alessandro Bastoni own-goal and Dor Peretz’s header brought Israel level before Tonali’s fortunate effort moved Italy up to second in Group I. They are now level on nine points with Israel, who have played one more game, and occupy the play-off spot.

“We’ll take the win, which was crucial for us, but we’re completely nuts because we conceded some absurd goals," said Gennaro Gattuso. “We need to work on that because we’re too fragile and concede goals too easily. The boys know that, but this is my problem to fix. You have to give credit to the boys because every time they were knocked down, they had the courage to react and fight back."

Italy trail leaders Norway by three points and still have a chance of taking first place and the group’s sole direct qualifying spot.

New coach Gattuso has much to consider ahead of October’s return fixtures with Estonia and Israel, whose players wore black armbands in honour of the victims of Monday morning’s deadly shooting at a bus stop in east Jerusalem by Palestinian gunmen.

Nominal home team Israel might have deserved a draw, as Kean twice rescued Italy following Manuel Locatelli’s early own-goal and a fabulous Dor Peretz strike in the 52nd minute in a largely empty Nagyerdei Stadium.

Monday’s match had cast a political cloud over Gattuso’s first fixtures in charge of Italy due to Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip.

A small group of Italian fans present turned their backs to the pitch during the Israeli national anthem, while boos rang out from sections of the stadium, before then holding up banners which read “stop".

And the Italians on the pitch looked equally uninterested in the match at the start, with Israel appearing more aggressive than the four-time world champions.

The nominal home team had already had a goal disallowed by the time Locatelli bundled Dan Biton’s cross into his own net.

Locatelli almost made up for his own-goal when he struck the bar with an acrobatic volley in the 31st minute, seconds before Kean wasted a great opportunity from a Gianluca Mancini cut-back.

But 10 minutes later, Kean drove a low shot past Daniel Peretz after collecting a knockdown from strike partner Mateo Retegui.

Kean came to the rescue again nine minutes after the break, levelling with another powerful low shot just seconds after Peretz put Israel ahead for the second time with a brilliant first-time effort.

Politano finally put Italy ahead with a great volley after more fine work from Retegui, and when Raspadori rolled home the fourth, it seemed the away team was out of the woods.

But it took Tonali’s unusual winner to finally secure the three points after unusually poor defending nearly left Italy’s qualification hopes hanging by a thread.

With AFP Inputs

Feroz Khan

Feroz Khan has been covering sports for over 12 years now and is currently working with Network18 as Principal Correspondent. He embarked on his journey in 2011 and has since acquired vast experience in digital...Read More

Feroz Khan has been covering sports for over 12 years now and is currently working with Network18 as Principal Correspondent. He embarked on his journey in 2011 and has since acquired vast experience in digital...

Read More

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News sports Israel Vs Italy: Sandro Tonali Saves Azzurri With Late Strike In Thrilling 5-4 Win

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