Arsenal keeper penalty save & Donnarumma howler in international clash | OneFootball

Karl Hein made a penalty save and Gianluigi Donnarumma gifted Estonia a goal on Saturday, but Italy still won the match comfortably.

Photo via eestijalgpall on Instagram

Arsenal loan goalkeeper Karl Hein faced off against Manchester City summer signing Gianluigi Donnarumma in an international fixture on Saturday, with Estonia playing Italy in a World Cup qualifier.

Estonia had lost the reverse fixture 5-0, despite Hein receiving plenty of praise for his performance, and it looked like more of the same as Moise Kean gave Italy a 1-0 lead within four minutes this weekend.

Not long after that, Italy had a penalty after a foul on Mateo Retegui, but Hein kept his team in the contest with an excellent save from the spot-kick.

Photo via eestijalgpall on Instagram

Retegui hesitated during his run up, hoping to catch Hein out. But the goalkeeper feinted to his right and then dived left, getting down low to keep the shot out.

Unfortunately, the pressure from Italy eventually told, with Retegui and Francesco Pio Esposito getting on the scoresheet to make it 3-0.

Estonia were offered a late route back into the game via a major Donnarumma error, with the goalkeeper dropping a routine cross at the feet of Rauno Sappinen for 3-1. But despite Hein performing like the better keeper on the day, Italy took the three points.

Photo via eestijalgpall on Instagram

Estonia are now incapable of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup, sitting nine points off the play-off spot with only two games left to play. The team also can’t make the play-offs through their Nations League performances, so that dream is truly over.

Hein and co. will be playing for pride when they face Moldova in their second game of the October break on Tuesday.