The journey of Andrea Soncin's Italy continues with a clear victory against Malta, a 5-0 win at the Stadio Tre Fontane in Rome in a match that, result aside, saw the Azzurre more inaccurate than usual. After a first half enlivened only by Girelli's 55th goal for Italy, in the second half Italy raised the tempo, finding four goals in ten minutes. In the final phase of the match came Glionna's first goal for Italy, followed by Cantore's double and, in between, Cardona's own goal. Now it will be necessary to raise the level because in four days (18:15 CET, live on Rai 2) the world champions Spain will arrive in Vincenza, who were beaten by us in the last match played just under a year ago.

‘We tried some different solutions compared to what we did in the past, making many mistakes in terms of quality and formation, and this prevented us from having a more fluid manoeuvre, but I am pleased with the performance of the girls,' the coach commented at the end of the match. 'Tuesday will be a very different match- we know how high the quality of the opponent is. We will need great humility. In the Nations League we have seen that the best way to face such strong teams is to attack high, defending with the ball. A concept that, in reality, we are trying to put into play against anyone.'

MATCH REPORT. For the first outing after the qualification for EURO 2025, the coach relied on the unusual three-woman defence, deploying from the first minute many players who until now have had less opportunities. Among them was Piga, making her debut for Italy. Alongside the AC Milan centre-back were Bartoli and Lenzini, and on the flanks were Glionna and Soffia, who had not played since 2022. The midfield line was made up of the Greggi-Severini duo; in front of them Beccari had the task of feeding the pair formed by Bonfantini and Girelli. Piemonte, who was struggling with a muscle problem that will force her to miss Tuesday's match against Spain, will not be called up. (Tickets for the match are on sale on Vivaticket and on the websites figc.vivaticket.it and vivaticket.com.)

Everything was as expected: the match opened with Italy immediately trying to break down the Maltese wall, succeeding after 7 minutes with Girelli's shot, back to scoring form after the winning goal against Argentina in the World Cup opener in New Zealand. It was the 55th goal in 114 appearances for Italy for the Juventus forward. On the 18th minute Bartoli was forced to leave the field, and Filangeri took her place. The team moved well, Soffia and Glionna arrived with ease at the back, taking advantage of the vertical movements of the midfielders and of Girelli’s runs, very good at moving as playmaker for Soncin's eleven. What was lacking, however, was a touch of precision in front of goal, and the first half flew by without offering any other excitement.

The second half opened with Di Guglielmo taking Lenzini's place. The match did not take off, the pace continued to be slow and this allowed the Maltese to defend their goal without too many worries. In the 60th minute Soncin substituted the much-applauded Girelli with Giacinti and shortly afterwards Schatzer made her debut, while Dragoni, the other Italian talent to win the Golden Girl award, reserved to the best Under-21 playing in Europe, was warming up as a precautionary measure.

In the 70th minute, the coach threw Cantore and Goldoni, who had not worn the Azzurre shirt for six years, into the mix. The players changed and, after a long siege, so did the result. In the 79th minute there was yet another attack by Severini, who entered the area and served a perfect assist to Cantore. Malta took the blow and from that moment on, the Italians swept the field: in the space of a few minutes, Glionna scored her first goal for Italy, beating Costantino; Cardona's clumsy own-goal and Cantore's second goal followed. Italy continued to prove their quality. Now they will head to Spain.

ITALY 5-0 MALTA (HT 1-0)

Italy (3-4-1-2): Giuliani; Bartoli (18' Filangeri), Lenzini (46‘ Di Guglielmo), Piga; Glionna, Severini, Greggi (16’ Schatzer), Soffia; Beccari (70‘ Goldoni); Bonfantini (70' Cantore), Girelli (60' Giacinti). Unused subs: Durante, Shore, Oliviero, Caruso, Linari, Giugliano, Bonansea, Boattin, Cambiaghi. Coach: Soncin.

Malta (4-3-1-2): Ebejer (83' Costantino); Xuereb, Zammit C., Lipman (75' Rapa), Cassar; Borg, Sciberras, Zammit S. (75' Mifsud); Bugeja (42’ Farrugia L.); Willis, Farrugia M. (80' Cardona). Unused Subs: Costantino, Zahra, Camilleri, Carabott, Cefai, Carella, Gatt. Coach: Tesse.

Goals: 7‘ Girelli, 79' and 88' Cantore, 84' Glionna, 86' Cardona (OG).

Referees: Allayyaiotou (Cyp). Assistants: Dimosthenous (Cyp) and Aggeliki (Cyp). Fourth official: Gagliardi (Cyp).