Good on the eye and aggressive in the first half, and intelligent and mature in the second: at a passionate San Siro, with over 58,000 fans roaring the team on, the Men’s National side got their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign back on track after beating Ukraine 2-1 to go joint second in the Group C. Behind leaders England, there are now three sides sitting in second place on seven points, but the Azzurri have played a game less than the Ukrainians and North Macedonia. Italy look to have already adopted Spalletti’s principles, running hard and making the ball do the work, pressing forcefully and putting on display the quality of moves that, due to a poor pitch, were not seen against North Macedonia.

Frattesi’s double, the best player on the pitch, gave Italy a two-goal advantage, but just shy of the half-time break Yarmolenko’s goal brought the Ukranians back into it. On the day millions of Italian students went back to school, the side showed they had learned the lessons of Skopje and continued to push forward looking for a third despite being in the lead. It was a deserved victory and three important points in the race for European qualification.

THE GAME. Five changes were made following the game with North Macedonia, with three enforced due to injuries to Mancini, Politano and Tonali. In front of Donnarumma, captain for the game, was Scalvini, who had already replaced Mancini after the break against the North Macedonians, alongside Bastoni, potentially the central defensive partnership for the future. Di Lorenzo and Dimarco completed the backline, called upon once again to work the flanks in a 4-3-3 formation that saw two changes out of three in midfield and up front, where the only players to retain their places were Barella and Zaccagni. In the playmaker role was Locatelli, with Frattesi to his right. Up top saw space for Zaniolo, with Spalletti leaving Immobile on the bench and giving a start to Giacomo Raspadori - match winner one year ago at San Siro against England. Instead, Ukraine were more restricted in their line-up with Coach Rebrov making only three changes from their game with England on Saturday: out was Mudryk with Yarmolenko replacing him, while Dovbyk was preferred to Yaremchuk in attack.

After the national anthems, (Ukraine’s was applauded by everyone inside the stadium), the 58,000 strong crowd at San Siro saw Italy start brightly and inside three minutes the Azzurri had their first opening, with Di Lorenzo hitting over from outside the area. The home side’s pressing allowed them to win the ball back high in the opposition’s box, with link-ups and exchanges quick and precise. Credit must also go to the superb playing surface at the Meazza, which was like a snooker table compared with the one at the Todor Proeski Arena days earlier. The scrit was predictable: the Azzurri dominating the game, with Ukraine camped in their own half and ready to cause damage on the counter, as they did against the Three Lions on Saturday through Zinchenko’s opening goal.

After ten minutes, a nice combination between Napoli duo Di Lorenzo and Raspadori saw the latter sky over from just a few yards out. But it was the prelude to the opener: Sudakov slipped on the edge of the area and Zaccagni slipped in to steal the ball off him, playing in Frattesi, whose control was perfect and he drilled the ball home with his right past Bushchan. The San Siro public went wild with joy and Spalletti applauded his boys in the technical area. Italy were playing some good stuff, with Zaccagni and Zaniolo inspired and combining well with their respective full-backs, Dimarco and Di Lorenzo. After 26 minutes, Dimarco’s cross found Frattesi, who cleverley headed back across goal to Raspadori, but he sent his shot high over the bar from the penalty spot. But three minutes later, the lead was doubled: Frattesi took advantage of a rebound, after Zaniolo’s attempt was blocked by the visiting team defence, to knock home for his first brace for the Azzurri and his third consecutive goal following his goals against the Netherlands in June in the Nations League. It mattered little that the goal had previously been ruled out for offside by Spaniard Hernandez, as VAR overturned the decision, confirming the Inter midfielder’s position was in line and the goal stood. The half wasn’t to end there though, with Ukraine replying quickly: Donnarumma saved from Dovbyk twice, but the second time Yarmolenko pounced to make it 2-1 following the goalkeeper’s block.

Ukraine came out after the break determined to complete the turnaround. Tsygankov tried his luck, but Locatelli made a timely sliding block, before Dovbik freed himself from Bastoni and, fortunately for the home side, shot wide. Italy found more space available, and Dimarco crossed to the back post for Zaniolo, who came round the back and played the ball across the face of goal, only for Zaccagni to waste his chance.

Biraghi and Gnonto came on for Dimarco and Zaccagni, respectively, while Rebrov played the Mudryk card. On the hour mark, a Zaniolo backheel sent Raspadori bearing down on goal, but Bushchan got down full stretch and turned it behind for a corner. Scalvini’s header went just over, before Zaniolo again made Bushchan work from the edge of the box. Then, after some pinball in the Ukranian defence, Locatelli hit the bar. Italy were not content on holding onto their lead and looked to close out the match in a way they had failed to do so three days earlier in Skopje. For the final 15 minutes, Spalletti sent on fresh legs in Orsolini and Retegui for Zaniolo and Raspadori, respectively. Mudryk tried to beat Donnarumma with a free-kick from a similar position to the one Bardhi had scored from, but the end product was fortunately a little different. Then, Konoplya tried to use his height advantage and rose above Gnonto, but his header went wide. And it was the Leeds forward who had the ball at his feet for match point, but at the moment of shooting he was stopped in his tracks. Nothing was lost, though, because after three minutes of injury-time, the full-time whistle blew and victory obtained to earn Spalletti his first three precious points.

The path to Europe recommences in a month: on 14 October, Italy host Malta in Bari before travelling to Wembley to face England on the 17th, in a game that revokes pleasant memories of the EURO 2020 triumph. Italy will be looking to defend their title next summer in Germany, but they must navigate through qualifying first.