Italy won an incredible World Cup qualifier against Israel 5-4 as Newcastle midfielder Sandro Tonali found a winner in stoppage time.
Italy led 4-2 with just three minutes left but Israel were on the brink of a famous draw when Alessandro Bastoni scored an own goal and Dor Peretz scored his second of the night in the 89th minute.
But there was still time for Tonali to find a winner in Debrecen, Hungary.
Italy have not qualified for the World Cup finals since 2014 and despite the late winner still trail group leaders Norway by three points. They also scored five goals on Friday night in a routine win at home to Estonia.
Former Everton forward Moise Kean found space among the Israeli defence to score each side of half-time, leveling the score on both occasions. Matteo Politano finally gave Italy the lead in the 59th minute off a backheeled flick assist from Mateo Retegui, and Giacomo Raspadori scored a fourth.
The game seemed over, but Israel scored twice in two minutes before Tonali hit a speculative curling shot in the first minute of stoppage time which seemed unthreatening but found its way through a crowd of players and into the net.
Italian errors were a major topic, with two own goals and some glaring mistakes from new Manchester City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Elsewhere Alexander Isak came on as a late substitute as Sweden were beaten 2-0 in Kosovo, Croatia thumped Montenegro 4-0 and Switzerland comfortably saw off Slovenia 3-0.
‘We’re a crazy team’
Italy manager Gennaro Gattuso admitted his side’s defending left a lot to be desired.
“It was murder today,” he said.
“It’s the craziest game I’ve been involved with as a coach, but it is my problem and not that of the players. If we want to play in a certain way, we need to get better at this. We were crazy to systematically go on the attack, that’s what Israel were waiting for, they hit us on the counter every time. We could’ve defended deeper when leading.
“We’re a crazy team, because we are too fragile, we concede ridiculous goals too easily. The lads know that, but this is my problem, not theirs.”
