Italy starting XI (4-3-3): Donnarumma, Darmian, Gatti, Acerbi, Dimarco,
Barella, Jorginho (subbed for Cristante), Bonaventura (subbed for Frattesi), Berardi (subbed for El Shaarawy), Raspadori (subbed for Scamacca), Chiesa (subbed for Zaniolo)
Goals: Darmian 17’, Chiesa 41’ 45+2’, Raspadori 81’, El Shaarawy 90+3’
Bench: Provedel, Carnesecchi, Lazzari, Mancini, Buongiorno, Politano, Cambiaso
North Macedonia starting XI (4-2-3-1): Dimitrievski, Manev (subbed for Ashkovski), Serafimov, Musliu, Dimoski, Elezi (subbed for Alimi), Ademi (subbed for Atanasov), Alioski, Bardhi, Elmas (subbed for Churlinov), Miovski (subbed for Ristovski)
Bench: Aleksovski, Shiskovski, Iljazovski, Mitrovski, Babunski, Daci, Todoroski
Goals: Atanasov 52’ 74’
Italy now need only a draw against Ukraine on Monday to secure a spot at next year’s tournament in Germany.
North Macedonia kept Italy from qualifying for last year’s World Cup with a 1-0 playoff win over the Azzurri in Palermo.
But North Macedonia had already been eliminated before their latest visit to Italy and the Azzurri quickly took control when fullback Matteo Darmian scored 17 minutes in at the Stadio Olimpico for his first national team goal in more than eight years.
Chiesa scored his first by using one touch to launch a long shot before scoring another with a looping effort in first-half added time.
Substitute Jani Atanasov pulled one back for North Macedonia with a header early in the second half and then scored again with a shot that deflected in off Italy defender Francesco Acerbi to make it a nervy ending for coach Luciano Spalletti’s team.
But Giacomo Raspadori finished off a counterattack for Italy in the 81st and Stephan El Shaarawy added another in stoppage time to restore the three-goal advantage.
Italy and Ukraine now each have 13 points, but Italy hold the advantage after beating Ukraine 2-1 in September.
AAP
