Italy sweep past Israel in Nations League
Italian players celebrate their goal. Photo: AFP
Italy strengthened their position at the top of Nations League Group A2 on Monday by thumping Israel 4-1 in Udine, where ramped up security was put in place for the away side's first match of 2024 outside Hungary.
Mateo Retegui's penalty four minutes from half-time, a brace from captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Davide Frattesi's 72nd-minute strike moved Italy to 10 points from four unbeaten matches.
The Azzurri are six points ahead of third-placed Belgium, who lost 2-1 to France, and a draw against either the Red Devils or the French next month will ensure qualification for the quarter-finals.
Luciano Spalletti's swashbuckling Italy are a different side to the one which put in a dismal title defence at the European Championship this past summer.
Another strong performance in which they missed a host of chances to win by an even wider margin was marred by Guglielmo Vicario allowing Mohammed Abu Fani's corner straight past him in the 65th minute.
"We didn't take anywhere near full advantage of what we created. To get in front of their goalkeeper so often wasn't easy because they sat deep and finding space was hard," said Spalletti to RAI.
"We had plenty of chances to score more goals but it's OK. You can make mistakes but we reacted well."
Di Lorenzo was ecstatic at his double, a neat header from Napoli teammate Giacomo Raspadori's free-kick in the 54th minute and a drilled effort which rounded off the scoring 11 minutes from the end.
The 31-year-old had a dreadful Euros and was roundly criticised by media and fans after a series of awful performances.
"Tonight was already special with having the captain's armband... I'll remember this night for the rest of my life," he said.
High security
Israel, who had played all their previous fixtures in Hungary due to the security situation in the Middle East, stay bottom of the group without a single point but are not yet relegated to League B as they trail Belgium by four points with two fixtures remaining.
Udine was placed on high alert for the match, with the area around the stadium cordoned off by a series of barriers, extra security checks and an off-limits "red zone" which was created some 48 hours before kick-off.
Israel has been at war with Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas since the latter staged the deadliest-ever attack on Israel on October 7 last year.
But the drastically increased levels of security, including police brought in from neighbouring regions of northern Italy and soldiers on the stadium roof, and blaring headlines in local media about a "bunker city" were out of step with the largely relaxed atmosphere around Udine.
Hours before the match pro-Palestine demonstrators -- estimated by police to be around 2,000 people -- marched through central Udine flanked by a huge numbers of police, whose helicopter kept an eye on the city from above.
The peaceful demonstrators, including members of local Palestinian communities, were not just protesting against Israel but in some cases also demanding that world governing body FIFA suspend the country from football participation.
Earlier this month FIFA made no verdict on a Palestinian request to exclude Israel, instead launching committee investigations to inform an eventual decision.
Meanwhile, the majority in the sparsely-populated stadium replied to weak jeers from some home fans of the pre-match Israel team announcement by breaking out into a round of applause in support of their guests.
The crowd did the same again for Israel's national anthem, although there were some whistles while a small section of Italy supporters stayed seated until their own nation's anthem.