Italy 5-0 Estonia: Gattuso up and running with much-needed World Cup qualifying rout
Italy gave their World Cup qualifying campaign a shot in the arm by hammering Estonia in Gennaro Gattuso's first match in charge.
Gennaro Gattuso started life as Italy head coach with a much-needed 5-0 World Cup qualifying rout of Estonia in Bergamo on Friday.
All five goals came in a second-half riot, with Mateo Retegui scoring twice, while Moise Kean, Giacomo Raspadori and Alessandro Bastoni were also on target in a win that leaves the Azzurri still six points adrift of Group I leaders Norway but with a game in hand.
Italy dominated the first half, managing 17 shots to Estonia's zero, but they were guilty of some wasteful finishing, with Kean blazing over on the half-volley from 10 yards.
Mateo Politano missed with a thumping header and the same man crossed for Retegui right at the end of the half, but his header was tipped onto the crossbar and over by Karl Hein.
Sandro Tonali saw a sweetly-hit volley saved by Hein before Kean finally nodded in the opener after Retegui flicked on Federico Dimarco's cross, and the Fiorentina man then bent another effort against the post just before the hour mark.
Mattia Zaccagni saw a point-blank header saved by Hein and curled wide of the right post from the edge of the area before Retegui drilled into the bottom left-corner from inside the D to double Italy's lead after 69 minutes.
And there was no way back for the visitors when Raspadori dived to head Politano's right-wing cross into the ground and into the left-hand side of the goal.
Retegui got his second when he glanced home Andrea Cambiaso's centre from the left and Bastoni made it a real rout with a thumping header in injury time.
Data Debrief: Five-star Italy bounce back
Italy's dreadful 3-0 defeat to Norway in June led to the exit of Luciano Spalletti, who strangely took charge of the 2-0 victory over Moldova before being replaced by Gattuso.
Gattuso, a World Cup winner as a player in 2006, saw his side score five goals – which is the first time the Azzurri have managed as many as three goals in a game since September 2021 (versus Lithuania).
The hosts' dominance was reflected by a superior expected goals (xG) tally of 4.43 to Estonia's woeful 0.41, with Retegui registering a game-high seven shots (two on target).
