Romário bags a hat-trick as Brazil thrash Italy in special match 🎥 | OneFootball

The Maracanã was the stage for a Brazil versus Italy match, one of the greatest classics of world football, "different" this Friday (10).

The charity event "Match of the Heart" featured former athletes from both countries from different generations.

And it saw a Brazilian victory by 8 to 3 with performances by Romário and Edilson.

The "Little One" secured a hat-trick. Edilson scored two. Cafu, Materazzi (own goal), and Maicon scored the other goals for Brazil.

The idea - besides celebrating the friendship between the countries - was to promote social inclusion and access to sports for children and adolescents in vulnerable situations - who were part of the audience present.

Brazil had the presence on the field of Romário, Maestro Júnior, Cafu, Aldair, Jorginho, Careca, Edinho, Edmilson, Luizão, Edilson Capetinha, Zinho, Anderson Polga, Júnior, Viola, Maicon, Juninho Paulista, Amaral, Válber, and Grafite.

Italy had, for example, Materazzi, Marco Amelia, Panucci, Zaccardo, Perrotta, Bruno Giordano, Pablo Osvaldo, Borrielo, Amoruso, Éder, and Alessandro Altobelli, who scored one of Italy's goals in the 1982 World Cup final.

Roberto Baggio, one of the greatest names in Italian football in the 90s - participated in the event but did not play.

The same goes for Gerson Canhotinha de Ouro, a three-time champion with Brazil in 70, Zico, and Ricardo Rocha.

Baggio, Ballon d'Or in 1993 and second place in 94, is remembered (by Brazilians) for missing the penalty that secured the Brazilian National Team's title in the United States World Cup.

The "Little One" opened the scoring after a gift from Edilson.

The "Capetinha" continued to be the protagonist. And scored twice.

Cafu scored Brazil's fourth still in the first half - there were two halves of 35 minutes each.

Pablo Osvaldo (2) and Amoruso scored for Italy before the break.

The final stage saw many changes and only Brazilian goals.

Materazzi scored an own goal after Cafu's attempt.

Romário scored his second advancing from midfield to lob the goalkeeper.

Maicon taking advantage of a deflection and Romário again completed the scoring.

🇮🇹 Will they return?

Four-time World Champion (1934, 1938, 1982, and 2006), Italy fell in the group stage in 2010 and 2014 and missed out on the Russia and Qatar World Cups.

The mission to secure a direct spot in the 2026 World Cup is not simple, as only the leader of each group advances directly.

Norway is first in Group I with 100% after five games.

Italy has played four matches and has nine points. The same score as Israel, which has one more game.

They will play again this Saturday (11), when they visit Estonia.

The other match of the round will have Norway vs. Israel.

The second place in each group will compete in the European playoffs for four more spots along with four spots

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.