Italy edge Belgium 2-1 to finish third in Nations League

Turin, October 11 (BNA): Nicolo Parella scored a resounding goal and a penalty kick by Domenico Berardi, as the host team beat Belgium 2-1 on Sunday and placed third in the Nations League this year.

Reuters reported that he offered some condolences to the European champions, whose semi-final defeat to Spain in Milan on Wednesday ended his record run of 37 games unbeaten.

They returned to winning ways as Barilla hit a nasty corner kick into the net a minute into the second half and Berardi added the second goal from a penalty kick in the 65th minute, after Timothy Castañe brought down Federico Chiesa.

Belgium had a consolation in the 86th minute when substitute Charles de Kettleri finished off a quick counter-attack.

Belgium, without Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku, and only including Kevin De Bruyne in the second half, had saved three times but were outplayed by their hosts for large parts of the match at the Juventus Stadium.

“Today we played very well and were excellent,” Italy coach Roberto Mancini told Rai TV. “We have different solutions and quality in midfield and today they performed well.”

The Belgian defense hit the early chances of Berardi and Giacomo Raspadori before Alexis Saelimikers, who plays in the Italian league with Milan, hit the Italian crossbar in the 28th minute.

But just after the break, the Belgians fell behind in front of Barilla’s sudden shot, after a corner-kick headed perfectly in his path.

Michy Batshuayi then received an attempt to back off as Belgium approached the equalizer in the 60th minute, but fell back 2-0 when Castane mistook Chiesa to give Italy a chance to extend their lead with a penalty kick. Berardi’s kick rebounded past Belgium goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.

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Toby Alderweireld then proved to be an unlikely attacking threat with two efforts that led to Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma being saved before Yannick Carrasco curled a curling shot against the Italian post in the last ten minutes.

A quick qualifier for Courtois set up Belgium’s goal when De Bruyne passed to young De Ketelaere to pass Donnarumma from close range, but it was too late to deliver a dramatic end to the match.

“We had a lot of young players today and they put in a decent performance,” said De Bruyne. “It was good for them to play against a team of Italy’s quality.”

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