Italy achieved a valuable win in their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign. The "Azzurri" recorded a second consecutive victory under Gennaro Gattuso after a real action-packed encounter with Israel in Hungary, which ultimately ended in a spectacular 5:4 win.

The Italians, who have not played in a World Cup since 2014, fell behind after 16 minutes when Manuel Locatelli scored an own goal. Moise Kean restored parity late in the first half before a wild second half happened. Dor Peretz restored the Israelis' lead in the 52nd minute, but six minutes later the hosts were already trailing after precise interventions from Kean and Matteo Politano. Giacomo Raspadori brought Italy close to victory with a fourth goal in the 81st minute, but the Israelis were far from done with the resistance. An own goal by Alessandro Bastoni and another goal by Peretz within 120 seconds made the score 4:4. However, the Italians put the shock behind them in the first minute of extra time when Sandro Tonali broke Israel's hearts with a fifth goal.

Gattuso and company thus tied their opponents on nine points in the Group I standings, moving them second on goal difference. Both teams are three points behind leaders Norway, with the Israelis having a game more than both teams. In their next matches, Italy visit Estonia in October, while Israel play away to Norway.

Elsewhere, Denmark beat Greece 3:0 away thanks to goals from Mikkel Damsgaard, Andreas Christensen and Rasmus Hojlund.

All results from Monday's World Cup qualifiers:

Group B

Kosovo - Sweden 2:0

Switzerland - Slovenia 3:0

Group C

Belarus - Scotland 0:2

Greece - Denmark 0:3

Group I

Israel - Italy 4:5

Group L

Croatia - Montenegro 4:0

Gibraltar - Faroe Islands 0:1. | BGNES