Italy 2-1 Ukraine: Frattesi scores brace to secure hard-fought victory

Davide Frattesi hit a classy first-half double as European champions Italy boosted their Euro 2024 qualifying hopes with a nervy 2-1 win over Ukraine at San Siro in Milan.

2024 EURO qualification

2-1

After being held to a shock 1-1 draw in North Macedonia on Saturday, Luciano Spalletti's men moved above Ukraine into second place in Group C on goal difference, six points behind leaders England.

Inter midfielder Frattesi punished some sloppy defending to slam home the opener on 12 minutes, before swivelling to add a second goal on 29 minutes after VAR deemed he was played onside in the visiting area.

Ukraine breathed fresh life into their hopes when Andriy Yarmolenko slipped the ball into the net from close range after some slipshod defending on 41 minutes.

Despite some nervy moments in a frantic second period, Italy managed to hold on for the three points with Yukhym Konoplya powering a header wide from substitute Mykhailo Mudryk’s cross in the closing minutes.

Line-ups

Italy XI: Di Lorenzo, Dimarco, Zaccagni, Barella, Locatelli, Donnarumma, Bastoni, Frattesi, Giacomo Raspadori, Zaniolo, Giorgio Scalvini

Subs: Darmian, Immobile, Biraghi, Cristante, Romagnoli, Pessina, Meret, Guglielmo Vicario, Orsolini, Nicolò Casale, Mateo Retegui, Wilfried Gnonto

Ukraine XI: Taras Stepanenko, Sergiy Kryvtsov, Yarmolenko, Georgiy Bushchan, Zinchenko, Viktor Tsygankov, Artem Dovbyk, Vitaliy Mykolenko, Yukhym Konoplya, G. Sudakov, Ilya Zabarnyi

Subs: Sergiy Sydorchuk, V. Buyalskiy, Oleksandr Karavaev, Roman Yaremchuk, Oleksandr Zubkov, Bogdan Mykhaylichenko, Andriy Lunin, Yegor Nazaryna, Denys Popov, Anatoliy Trubin, Mykhaylo Mudryk, Vladyslav Vanat