Nov 15,2024
Italy secured qualification for the Nations League quarter-finals as Sandro Tonali's early finish gave the Azzurri a 1-0 win over Belgium in Brussels.
Tonali put the visitors ahead with an 11th-minute finish, the Newcastle midfielder opening his international account with his first goal since returning to action this season after serving a 10-month ban for breaching gambling rules.
Late efforts to hit back from the hosts included Romelu Lukaku sending a header wide and Wout Faes seeing another come back off a post as Group A2 leaders Italy guaranteed a top-two spot and third-placed Belgium's hopes of taking one ended.
Luciano Spalletti's men are joined in the last eight by France, who were held 0-0 at home by Israel and trail the Italians by three points ahead of the sides meeting at the San Siro on Sunday.
In Group B3, Austria went top with a 2-0 away win over Kazakhstan, who had Alexander Marochkin sent off between goals from Christoph Baumgartner and Michael Gregoritsch.
Norway are second, three points clear of Slovenia, after thumping them 4-1 in Ljubljana, with Antonio Nusa scoring twice and Erling Haaland also on the scoresheet.
North Macedonia sealed promotion to the second tier as they defeated Latvia 1-0 away in Group C4, in which there was also a 1-0 win for the Faroe Islands in Armenia.
