World Cup 2018 Qualifiers: Italy suffers humiliating defeat against Spain

(Baonghean.vn) - In the 7th match of Group I of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers in Europe, Spain and Italy will have a decisive match in the early morning (September 3) to determine the top spot.

Visiting Spain's Santiago Bernabeu stadium, Italy must win to take the top spot in Group I from their opponents, as despite having the same number of points, the Italians are behind in terms of secondary indicators compared to their opponents.

However, in the 13th minute, midfielder Isco warned Italy with a superb free kick, opening the score for Spain. Not only that, the player currently playing for Real Madrid scored another goal in the 40th minute with an extremely impressive long-range shot to defeat Gianluigi Buffon for the second time and double the score to 2-0.

Isco's miraculous free kick against Buffon. Photo: Internet.

In the second half, the away team Italy pushed up their attack formation in search of an equalizer. However, coach Giampiero Ventura's players were unable to score an honorable equalizer. Not only that, in the 73rd minute, Italy conceded another goal after Alvaro Morata took advantage of a cross from Sergio Ramos to decide the outcome of the match.

Morata even almost had a double for himself, but the home team's number 9 striker's header into the Italian net was offside.

With a 3-0 win over Italy, Spain consolidated their top spot in Group I with 19 points from 7 matches. At the same time, they created a 3-point gap with the second-placed team to gain an advantage in getting an official ticket to the 2018 World Cup when there are only 3 matches left in the qualifying round.

Meanwhile, Italy with 16 points are at risk of having to play a play-off if they cannot improve their situation after the defeat at Bernabeu.

Trung Kien