5:2! Italy successfully revenged, Juventus star dreamed of returning to the European Cup, and the Gunners fell into a penalty nightmare

As the reigning champions of the European Championships, Italy's journey to the World Championship has not been smooth, and after being beaten twice by England in the previous round, the Azzurri have fallen to third place in the group. In the penultimate round, Italy hosted North Macedonia, and Chiesa Jr. became the biggest contributor to Italy's victory, scoring a brace, plus goals from Darmian, Raspadori and Shaarawy, Italy won 5-2 and regained the initiative to qualify.

North Macedonia are ranked 66th in the world, a clear gap to No. 9 Italy, but in the past two years, they have been the absolute bitter opponents of Italy, the Azzurri lost to the Qatari consortium, and they also drew with Italy again in the first leg. Because Bastoni withdrew from this training camp early due to a calf muscle strain, Spalletti could only discharge the backline of Darmian, Gatti, Acerbi and Dimarco; Barella, Bonaventura and Jorginho in the midfield; Raspadori, Berardi and Chiesa Jr. formed an attacking combination; and Donnarumma guarded the goal.

After the opening, Italy, which urgently needed 3 points, surrounded the opponent for a fierce attack, in the 12th minute, Jorginho sent a precise through plug in the midfield, Raspadori quickly started to carry the defender and the goalkeeper who attacked, and scored the first goal with a pick-up, but unfortunately the linesman signaled offside at the first time, and the goal was blown invalid. In the 15th minute, Gatti made a long pass in the middle circle, Chiesa Jr. stopped the ball in front of the court and did it back, Bonaventura passed directly, Chiesa Jr. was blocked by Dimitrevski at a small angle;

In the 21st minute, Chiesa cut through and Raspadori fell to the ground and shot wide; 3 minutes later, Chiesa Jr. had another long-range shot from the periphery that was very threatening; in the 35th minute, Darmian broke through along the right and crossed, Dimarco volleyed high at the back post; in the 38th minute, Gatti hit the goal with a header in the penalty area in the hands of Serafimov, the referee did not hesitate to blow the penalty, Jorginho played his trademark rhythmic penalty, but this time the penalty was saved sideways by Dimitrevski; Jorginho's penalty hit rate was still very high, but since the European Championship and the last World Preliminary Championship penalty missed the penaltyJorginho's penalty rate has plummeted, and counting this time, it has been the fourth consecutive penalty missed in the national team.

But after all, Italy's hard power is still above North Macedonia, in the 42nd minute, the Italian sideline ball was thrown into the penalty area, the North Macedonian players cleared the siege and did not go far, Barella did a heel in the penalty area, Chiesa Jr. directly volleyed into the net, 2:0! In the second minute of stoppage time at halftime, Raspadori got rid of the back straight plug, Chiesa Jr. responded to the front court and shook off Manev's defense and directly hit a world wave, Dimitrevski could only look at the ball this time and sigh, 3:0! Chiesa Jr. scored 2 goals in 5 minutes, and fans also said that Chiesa Jr. has regained the feeling of killing in the Euros 2 years ago.

In the 52nd minute of the second half, Aliowski crossed from a corner kick, and Atanasov, who had just been substituted on the field, scored a goal with a hammer in front of the goal, and 3:1!1 minutes later, Raspadori crossed from the right side of the bottom line, Barella and Bonaventura formed a double ghost shot in front of the goal, and the final shot was too positive and was blocked by Dimitrevsky. Spalletti then made a personnel change, with Chiesa Jr., Bonaventura and Jorginho replaced by Zaniolo, Cristante and Frattesi respectively.

Although North Macedonia had no hope of qualifying, they still did not give up, in the 74th minute, Atanasov shot a cold arrow on the periphery of the penalty area, and the ball hit Acerbi and refracted into the net, Donnarumma could not react, 3:2! North Macedonia narrowed the score difference. At the critical moment, Italy did not drop the chain again, in the 81st minute, Barella broke through the diagonal pass with the ball on the left side, and Raspadori led the ball forward and shot low into the far corner to open the difference again, 4:2!

In stoppage time, El Shaarawy's goal set the score at 5-2, Italy finally avenged their elimination from their opponents in the World Preliminary Round, and in doing so, Italy regained second place in this group, and in the final round, Italy will face Ukraine head-to-head, and a draw will see Italy qualify for the European Championship.