Italy Make Hard Work Of Lithuania

For the third time this international break Italy claimed a 2-0 win, this time claiming three points away to Lithuania.

The result flattered Gli Azzurri, though, and the second didn’t come until a frustrated Ciro Immobile converted a penalty with the game’s last kick. Stefano Sensi had made an instant impact earlier, scoring instantly after coming off the bench at half time.

Roberto Mancini made a lot of changes to his XI, with Atalanta’s Rafael Toloi being handed his debut, while La Dea teammate Matteo Pessina was given a starting place as well.

But those changes appeared to interrupt the recent bright performances, as Gli Azzurri struggled to get themselves ahead. Despite a dominant first half with regards to possession, only Lorenzo Pellegrini forced Tomas Svedkauskas into action to save.

Fortunately for Italy, Sensi broke the deadlock shortly after the second half got going. The Inter midfielder had only been introduced at the break and went on to open the scoring within two minutes.

Italy livened up a little from there, and Svedkauskas did well to deny Pessina and Ciro Immobile. Manuel Locatelli then had a chance of his own before Immobile headed wide.

Mancini’s men were given a scare, though. Gianluigi Donnarumma had to be alert to deny Tautvydas Eliosius, as Mancini’s side were made to sweat a little more than they might have expected.

Immobile killed things off with a stoppage-time penalty, giving Gli Azzurri a 2-0 win.