UEFA Nations League: Italy and France reach the last eight

Italy and France have qualified for the final stages of the UEFA Nations League.

The Italian national team won 1-0 against the host, the Belgian national team, while the French national team tied 0-0 with the guest, the Israeli national team, on Thursday evening, in the fifth (penultimate) round in Group Two in the first level of the continental competition.

The Italian national team continued to lead the standings, after raising its score to 13 points, 3 points ahead of its closest pursuer, the French national team, to advance together to the quarter-finals, which will take place next March.

In contrast, the Belgian team's tally stopped at 4 points in third place, while the Israeli team remained at the bottom of the standings after obtaining its first point in the group.

At the King Baudouin Stadium in the Belgian capital, Brussels, Sandro Tonali played the starring role in the match, after scoring the only goal for the Italian national team in the 11th minute, scoring his first international goal in his career with his country's national team.

The final round of the group is scheduled to take place next Sunday, when Italy will meet its guest France, while Israel will play its guest Belgium.

The first minutes were marked by caution from both teams, before the Italian team took the initiative, after Davide Frattesi fired the first shot of the match from the edge of the left corner of the penalty area in the sixth minute, which was saved firmly by Koen Casteels, the Belgian goalkeeper.

Italy quickly translated their control of the match, after Sandro Tonali scored a goal for the visitors in the 11th minute. From an organized attack on the right flank, Giovanni Di Lorenzo exploited it to penetrate the penalty area, passing the ball to Tonali, who had no difficulty putting the ball into the net.

The Belgian players tried to quickly organize their ranks on the field after the shock of Italy's first goal, and launched some attacks, but without causing the slightest danger to the goal of Gianluigi Donnarumma, the Azzurri's goalkeeper.

The match was stopped for a while in the 40th minute, due to altercations between players of the two teams on the field, amid warnings from the referee, and then the match resumed without any new developments, and the first half ended with Italy leading 1/0 over Belgium.

The second half started with an intense attack from the Belgian team in an attempt to equalize. Leandro Trossard shot from outside the area in the 50th minute, but the ball went just over the crossbar.

In contrast, Italy relied on counter-attacks in an attempt to exploit the empty spaces in Belgium's defence, which almost resulted in another goal for the visiting team in the 54th minute, when Frattesi sent a forward pass to Matteo Retiggi, who was then alone in front of the goal, shooting from inside the area, placing the ball to the left of Castells, who pushed the ball away with his fingertips for a corner kick.

The corner kick almost extended Italy's lead with another goal, as the Belgian defence pushed the ball away from the danger zone with great difficulty.

Belgium responded with an organised attack in the 57th minute, as the defence cleared a cross from the right side in the wrong way, so the ball reached Trossard, who fired a thunderous shot from the edge of the area, to the left of Donnarumma, who skillfully blocked the ball for a corner kick that was not exploited.

Belgium continued their offensive activity, and Luis Openda shot from the edge of the penalty area in the 61st minute, which Donnarumma saved steadfastly, followed by a shot from inside the penalty area by Retegui in the 64th minute, which passed next to the right post of Belgium's goal.

Castagne wasted a chance to equalize for Belgium in the 65th minute, when Maxime De Kuyper took a corner kick with a low cross into the area, and Timothy Castagne received it with an inaccurate shot that went wide over the top of the goal.

Veteran star Romelu Lukaku missed another clear chance for Belgium in the 78th minute, when he followed up a cross from the right side by Castagne, heading the ball, but this time the ball went wide of the right post.

Lukaku threatened Italy's goal again in the 82nd minute, as he received a header from Amin Al-Dakhil, and fired a direct rocket from inside the area, but it hit the defense and went out for a corner kick, resulting in a header from Foot Weiss, which hit the left post.

The Belgian team intensified its attempts to achieve a tie in the last moments, but to no avail, and the match ended with Italy winning by one goal.

(dpa)