Italy 4

Malta 0

Italy (4-3-3): Donnarumma, Darmian, Mancini, Bastoni, Dimarco (34' st Udogie), Barella (20' st Frattesi), Locatelli, Bonaventura (42' st Biraghi), Berardi (20' st Orsolini) , Raspadori, Kean (34' st Scamacca). On the bench Vicario, Meret, Di Lorenzo, Acerbi, Scalvini, Cristante, El Sharaawi. Coach Spalletti.

Malta (5-3-2): Bonello, J.Mbong (21' st Attard), Apap, Pepe, Z. Muscat, Camenzuli, Kristensen (21' st N. Muscat), Guillaumier, Yankam (39' st Nwoko) , Montebello (10' st Satariano), P.Mbong (39' st Paiber). On the bench Al Tumi, Galea, J. Borg, Shaw, Corbalan, Pisani, Degabriele. Coach Marcolini.

Referee : Strukan (Cro).

Goals : in the first half 23' Bonaventura, 46' Berardi, in the first half 19' Berardi, 48' Frattesi.

Notes : ammonites P. Mbong, Yankam, Apap; corners 12 to 1 for Italy; approximately 53 thousand spectators.

Bari. In search of the lost tranquility after the developments of the betting affair involving Tonali and Zaniolo, Spalletti's Italy carries out the task that the forecast assigned it. Against Malta, in Bari, in front of 56 thousand spectators there was no story, the taken for granted success arrived (4-0) and now it is already time to think about the great match on Tuesday at Wembley against an England team that has yet to digesting the defeat on penalties in the final of the last European Championships and therefore sees red every time he faces the Azzurri. Furthermore, they were beaten in the last direct match, the one that ended 1-2 at Maradona when Roberto Mancini was still on the Italian bench.

Tuesday

Spalletti will try to put his ideas in order and study the right moves to stop the new ace Jude Bellingham, relentless scorer at Real Madrid, and the always fearsome Harry Kane today at Bayern Munich. Meanwhile, against Malta, coached by the former player from Bari Michele Marcolini, it went as it should: at the end of the first half Italy was already 2-0 with goals from the players who, as demonstrated in the championship with their respective clubs, are going through a period of great form, namely Bonaventura and Berardi. The match was broken exactly halfway through the first half thanks to the Viola midfielder, the big news in these Spalletti call-ups. In the 23rd minute the number 8 takes advantage of a back-and-forth in the opponent's area and beats Bonello with a nice right-footed shot. Then in the final, another curling shot, by Domenico Berardi, effectively closed the match with a half to spare.

Race closed

Yet the Azzurri give the impression of not putting their foot down on the accelerator, limiting themselves to keeping the ball in their hands against rivals of a clearly lower level. Malta, in fact, despite some initial restarts, tries to close in on its 5-3-2 hoping not to disfigure itself. He doesn't succeed and Berardi does it again in the 20th minute of the second half, taking advantage of a nice cross from Raspadori and sending the ball into the net with relative ease. Previously Italy had narrowly missed making it 3-0, which would have been an own goal by Pepe. When Berardi is replaced he is honored by the entire audience with long applause. Orsolini comes in, then Barella also comes out for the other Inter player Frattesi and it is the latter, in injury time, who serves the poker, driven by that strength that makes him seem like a new Tardelli: in the end he confirms his instinct for goal with a left foot that seals the 4-0.

The technician

The European Championship in Germany now seems closer, despite Ukraine's success over Macedonia. But England immediately took the lead and calmed down, as coach Luciano Spalletti preached at the end of the match: «Overall we are quite happy. We took three points as needed, facing the match with due commitment and without taking it lightly. There is the continuous search to get to know each other more and more and to play together. Now with England we can go and discover our potential."

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