You don’t often find yourself back level having gone 3-0 down away to Germany, fighting back after an unpleasant first half with goals from Kimmich, Musiala and Kleindienst. At Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund, where the Azzurri wrote one of the best pages of their history on 4 July 2006 as they beat Germany 2-0 in the World Cup semi-final, Luciano Spalletti’s Italy side failed to come back from the 2-1 defeat in the first leg but went close, almost securing a 4-3 against Germany not seen since the ‘Game of the Century’ in Mexico City, 55 years ago. It was a game of two halves as the hosts dominated the first 45 but Italy put in a performance to be proud of in the second half with Kean’s brace getting us back into things, a penalty decision in our favour overturned and the equaliser from the spot (this time awarded by VAR) converted by Raspadori. However, it was the Germans who secured a spot in the finals, which will be played in Munich and Stuttgart in June. The Azzurri will thus begin their World Cup qualification journey in Oslo on June 6 as they join Norway, Israel, Estonia and Moldova in a five-team group.

Luciano Spalletti: “In the first half, we messed up too many recoveries, we weren’t able to manage the ball. We knew it would be like this. I expected more but up until I managed to speak to the squad in the dressing room, we had to sit through what they were doing. Then, they realised that we had to do more and in the second half, the lads showed us the Italy that everyone was expecting”.

GERMANY DOMINATED. Spalletti made four changes with respect to the game at the Meazza, Buongiorno and Gatti at the back and Di Lorenzo moved onto the right in place of Politano. Ricci, Barella and Tonali in the midfield whilst Daniel Maldini made his full debut in support of Moise Kean. Germany also made four changes with Kleindienst winning a spot in the starting XI after his goal on Thursday. Nagelsmann also changed the setup, going three at the back and adding Schlotterbeck, whilst Gross and Amiri (the latter disappointing in Milan) did not feature; instead, they started Stiller and Mittelstädt.

In the bedlam of the Signal Iduna Park, packed with 65,000 fans, Germany got off to a strong start and had two shots at Donnarumma’s goal in the first minute alone: first Mittelstädt and then Goretzka failed to hit the target. Italy's only chances came between the 4th and 5th minutes with Di Lorenzo's cross which Tah narrowly avoided deflecting into his own goal and Barella's shot going over the crossbar. The pace was high, as was Germany's pressing and the Azzurri struggled to get on the ball. The deadlock was broken on the half-hour mark: Goretzka to Kleindienst who was brought down in the box by Buongiorno. Marciniak pointed to the penalty spot without hesitation, Donnarumma went the right way but could not get to Kimmich's shot. Five minutes later the Azzurri goalkeeper did brilliantly on Kleindienst's header but Kimmich took advantage of our lack of attention on the following corner to pass to Musiala who tucked the ball away. Yet another goal conceded from a dead-ball situation.

Italy were 2-0 down and having a go at the opposition with chances for Maldini and Barella but Germany came again in the 45th minute. Another goal as a result of Nagelsmann’s high press with Schlotterbeck taking the ball off Barella to start the move. It was too easy for Goretzka to pick out Kimmich who crossed for Kleindienst to head home at the back post. Donnarumma got a glove to it but the ball was already over the line.

A REACTION TO BE PROUD OF. Frattesi and Politano came on for Maldini and Gatti to start the second half with Di Lorenzo moving into the backline. Frattesi had a good chance but shot high. Italy wanted to make a mark and their reaction was rewarded in the 49th minute as Kean exploited an error from Sané to fire past Baumann. It was more balanced than the first half, Germany couldn’t press like they had done for the first 45 minutes. Raspadori came on for Tonali and with his first touch, picked out Kean who shot past Baumann once again, getting us back in the game. 3-2 but the excitement wasn’t over.

Germany took the blow. Raspadori picked out Di Lorenzo in the box who was floored by Schlotterbeck. Marciniak initially blew for a penalty but VAR overturned it as the German defender was judged to have touched the ball. With that scare behind them, Nagelsmann swapped Musiala out for Andrich. Spalletti brought on Zaccagni and Lucca for the final minutes. In the 4th minute of injury time, VAR once again took Marciniak to the screen, this time to award a penalty for a handball from Mittelstadt. Raspadori stepped up and converted, with one more goal it could have gone to extra time. The dream of a comeback faded in the 99th minute as Germany went through to the finals. Italy will begin their journey to the 2026 World Cup in June, wanting to secure qualification at all costs.

GERMANY 3-3 ITALY

GERMANY (3-4-2-1): Baumann; Schlotterbeck, Tah, Rüdiger (77’ Bisseck); Kimmich, Stiller (61' Gross), Goretzka (61' Amiri), Mittelstädt; Sané (61' Adeyemi), Musiala (77' Andrich); Kleindienst. Subs: Nübel, Ortega, Koch, Burkardt, Undav, Leweling, Raum. Coach: Nagelsmann.
ITALY (3-5-2): Donnarumma; Gatti (46' Politano), Buongiorno, Bastoni; Di Lorenzo, Barella, Ricci (85' Zaccagni), Tonali (68' Raspadori), Udogie; Maldini (46' Frattesi); Kean (85' Lucca). Subs: Meret, Vicario, Bellanova, Comuzzo, Rovella, Ruggeri, Casadei. Coach: Spalletti.

Goalscorers: 30’ pen. Kimmich (G), 36’ Musiala (G), 45’ Kleindienst (G), 49' and 68’ Kean (I), 95’ pen. Raspadori (I)
Referee: Marciniak (Poland). Assistants: Listkiewicz and Kupsik (Poland). Fourth official: Raczkowski (Poland). VAR: Pskit (Poland). AVAR: Kwiatkowski (Poland)
Notes: 64,762 attendees. Booked: Gatti (I), Stiller (G), Buongiorno (I), Adeyemi (G), Bastoni (I), Kleindienst (G), Barella (I)