Despite a disappointing draw against North Macedonia and Gianluigi Donnarumma being booed as he returned to the San Siro, there was an unwavering sense of positivity from Luciano Spalletti’s Italy.
That was rewarded in the 12th minute when Mattia Zaccagni capitalised on a slip from Georgiy Sudakov and laid the ball off for Davide Frattesi to fire past Georgi Bushchan on his first start for club or country since scoring his first international goal against the Netherlands.
Frattesi had another goal to celebrate before the half-hour mark, as the 23-year-old reacted quickest to Nicolo Zaniolo’s effort hitting him and pinballing around to poke the ball home.
The Blue and Yellow had been completely outclassed in the early stages but grew into the game as the first half progressed and Andriy Yarmolenko, Ukraine’s second-highest goalscorer of all time, capitalised on an overly casual clearance from Federico Dimarco to slide the ball home after Artem Dovbyk had seen an effort well saved by Donnarumma.
The blistering play continued into the second half, although there was no relief for Gli Azzurri as Zaccagni scuffed his effort harmlessly wide and Bushchan redeemed himself after a poor kick by getting down brilliantly to deny Giacomo Raspadori.
Italy largely regained control after some promising play from Ukraine, and Giorgio Scalvini came agonisingly close with a towering header that nestled on the roof of the net before Manuel Locatelli’s deflected attempt hit the crossbar and Nicolo Barella sent the rebound wide.
A one-goal margin eventually proved enough with Yukhym Konoplya sending a late header wide, as Italy bounced back from two winless matches to usurp Ukraine and take second place with a game in hand on the Blue and Yellow.
Ukraine are still level on points with Gli Azzurri for now, despite losing for the first time in five internationals, and will maintain hope of reclaiming the second spot in Group C with these sides meeting again in their final match.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Davide Frattesi (Italy)
Other Euro 2024 qualifying results
In the night’s other Group C clash, North Macedonia kept themselves in the picture with a 2-0 win over Malta.
Over in Group A, Spain smashed Cyprus 6-0 to continue their good run of form and close the gap on leaders Scotland.
Norway aren’t out of the running just yet, though, after they beat Georgia 2-1.
In Group F, Belgium and Austria pulled away from the pack with healthy wins - Belgium beat Estonia 5-0 while the Austrians defeated Sweden 3-1.
In Group I, Switzerland stayed on top with a 3-0 win over Andorra while Israel beat Belarus 1-0 to stay in the mix.
Romania beat Kosovo 2-0 to hold onto second spot after the match was delayed for some time due to politcal banners and flares disturbing the action.
