Gattuso hails Italy win over Israel, admits: “Not our best” | OneFootball

Italy defeated Israel on Monday, 5-4, in the 6th round of the European Qualifiers for the World Cup, at the Nagyerdei Stadium in Hungary. Coach Gennaro Gattuso valued the victory but highlighted the defensive fragility of the Italian team.

“It was a match that could have killed me. I have a team of madmen. This Israeli team surprised us, but we didn’t play a great game today. We were very fragile and conceded goals too easily. But winning was crucial,” said Gennaro Gattuso to the Italian television channel Rai.

The match was full of twists and turns throughout the 90 minutes. Israel opened the scoring with an own goal by Locatelli and Moise Kean equalized for Italy, still in the first half. In the second half, Dor Peretz put the Israelis back in front, but the Italian team turned it around with goals from Kean, Matteo Politano, and Giacomo Raspadori.

Near the end of the game, Alessandro Bastoni scored Italy’s second own goal and Dor Peretz equalized for Israel. In the 46th minute, Sandro Tonali scored Italy’s fifth and secured the victory.

Standings

With this result, Italy secured three important points in the European Qualifiers. With four matches played, coach Gennaro Gattuso’s team took second place in Group I, with nine points, tied with Israel, who have played one more game.

Norway, with a 100% record, leads the group with 12 points.

This was Italy’s second victory under the command of the former player, World Cup champion in 2006, in two games.

Italy’s Next Match

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