Italy beat their opponents Norway 2-0 at the Ullevaal Stadium in the first of their European Championship qualifying matches.
A first half goal from Simone Zaza and a second from Leonardo Bonucci put the game out of the reach of the Scandinavians, giving Antonio Conte has first competitive victory in charge.
The first chance of the game came when Matteo Darmian had space to pick out Zaza in the box, but his cross went behind the striker and was cleared by Håvard Nordtveit.
Soon after it was the Norwigians turn to pose a threat when Mats Møller Dæhli’s ball in found Joshua King at the near post, but the Blackburn Rovers frontman had it nicked out of the play. The resulting corner didn’t trouble Gianluigi Buffon in goal and neither did Nordtveit’s tame effort on the edge of the area.
After pressing their opponents for much of the first quarter of an hour, Italy took the lead. Mattia De Sciglio’s pass infield was left by both Emanuele Giaccherini and Ciro Immobile, allowing Zaza to try his luck, with his reward coming from a vital deflection off Nordtveit to take it past Ørjan Nyland in goal. Determined not to be disheveled by going a goal down, Norway began moving the ball quicker and playing more intricately.
King had two decent opportunities to level the score. Firstly when Dæhli played him in but his shot was too high from an awkward angle, and secondly when he beat his marker to send a stinging shot into the hands of a relieved Gigi Buffon.
As the half wore on, things started to get a bit scrappy, specifically from the Azzurri. De Sciglio could easily have picked up a yellow card for repeated offenses, with one of his fouls allowing Ruben Jenssen to fizz a teasing ball into a mix of Italian defenders. However with five minutes to go it was Alessandro Florenzi who picked up the first booking with a poorly timed challenge on Håvard Nielsen.
In the second half, Norway appeared to lose much of their momentum. Conte’s men took advantage of this when Immobile saw his shot closed down by defenders for a corner. Before it was taken, Manuel Pasqual replaced Darmian and made an instant impact, crossing the ball in for Bonucci to make it 2-0. Deflated and lacking any real quality in the final third, Norway were left with only their mistakes to reflect on.
The result marks an excellent start for Conte on his European qualifying campaign, with his side showcasing a new drive built around quick, direct football. Norway on the other hand may find goals a precious commoditiy going forward in this group.
Follow Louis Gibberd-Thomas on Twitter: @mercutio156
