Armenia 1-3 Italy
Italy made it a perfect 15 points from five games with a 3-1 win over Armenia at the Yerevan Republican Stadium, to bring Euro 2020 qualification within touching distance.
The Azzurri failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, knocked out by Sweden in the play-offs, so making it to the European Championships is an absolute must. After dominating in Greece with a 0-3 win, Italy had taken a stranglehold on Group J.
Armenia made it tough for Roberto Mancini’s team though, and held on with ten men until the last quarter of an hour. But eventually, Italy’s quality and numerical advantage were too much for the hosts.
The Euro 2020 betting odds place Italy just behind the top group of France, England, Spain and Belgium. Things will change over the next six months though, so keep an eye on all the odds at SBOBET as the tournament approaches. Italy will need to improve if they are to have a chance of winning the tournament, but for now, they are doing all they need to.
Highlights of the game
On the back of two wins, Armenia started the game full of confidence, fired up in front of a passionate crowd and on the front foot from the off.
And it was no more than they deserved when they took a shock lead. After a lightning break, Tigran Barseghyan slid a lovely ball through to top scorer Alexander Karapetyan and he fired the ball into the corner.
It was a brilliant finish to round off a great team move, but not exactly what Mancini expected!
His team gradually found their feet and began to dominate, and the host’s keeper Aram Airapetyan kept his side in front with a superb fingertip save to deny Federico Bernardeschi. But he couldn’t do anything on 27 minutes when Emerson had all the time and space he needed to jink his way down the left and stand up the perfect ball for Andrea Belotti to volley home at the far post.
Bernardeschi curled a shot inches over the angle. But then, as it looked like Armenia would head into half time all smiles, they suffered a hefty blow when Karapetyan received a second yellow card for a raised elbow.
It seemed harsh as the Armenian made minimal contact on Leonardo Bonucci, but the referee saw it otherwise. And that earned him a chorus of boos as he blew for half time.
Before that, Italy had a chance to go 2-1 ahead when Federico Chiesa put one on a plate for Belotti. However, he missed from four yards with the goal at his mercy.
Roberto Mancini will have impressed upon his players the importance of winning in Armenia and the huge chance they had against ten men. But there was no ferocious onslaught at the start of the second half.
Armenia captain Henrikh Mkhitaryan has struggled to sparkle in the Premier League with Arsenal, and has recently made the move to Roma. But he is his nation’s best player and he made an electrifying run into the Italy half only to be chopped down by Nicolo Barella as he was about to pull the trigger. It was a very good yellow card for Barella to take as the resulting free-kick flew over.
The Azzurri continued to struggle to carve out a clear cut chance and were limited to long-range shots. But eventually, on 77 minutes, Lorenzo Pellegrini converted from a Bonucci flick to put the Italians in front.
And it was a slice of bad luck for the hosts which took the game away just two minutes later. Belotti turned and hit a good low shot which hit the post and bounced in off the unlucky Airapetyan.
Key Statistics
Italy is on the rise back up the FIFA Rankings at 16th a full 82 places above Armenia in 98th so this was an outstanding effort from the hosts to push their visitors so hard, and with ten men for the whole of the second half.
But Italy has now won eight European qualifiers in a row for the first time in their history.
Belotti’s goal was his first in a year and a half but he could easily have had a hat-trick.
Meanwhile, Alexander Karapetyan’s strike was his fifth in seven games.
What’s next?
Next up, Italy is away to Finland – who are currently in second place with nine points. The Fins have a not so secret weapon in striker Teemu Pukki who has started the Premier League season in devastating form, with five goals for newly promoted Norwich City.
But when the Group J Euro 2020 results are all in at the end of this international break, I suspect Italy could be as good as qualified.
Marco Verratti will miss the Finland game as he picked up a yellow here, but Armenia arguably have a bigger loss when they take on Bosnia and Herzegovina at home without Karapetyan.
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