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82 min: \u2026 and all that, just as Northern Ireland<\/a> were preparing to crank up some late attacking pressure and play on Italian nerves.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>GOAL! Italy 2-0 Northern Ireland (Kean 80)<\/p>\n Northern Ireland make a double change, sending on Magennis and Reid for Donley and Spencer. They\u2019ve not got into position when Italy roar forward again. The ball wedged by Tonali to Kean, racing down the inside-right channel. Kean dinks the ball inside, seeing off McConville, and clips a low drive off the base of the left-hand post and in!<\/p>\n Moise Kean doubles the lead for Italy. Photograph: Alberto Pizzoli\/AFP\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a017.28 EDT<\/p>\n 79 min: The ball\u2019s dinked in from the right by Esposito. Kean, ten yards out, his back to goal, meets it with an overhead kick, sending the ball inches wide left. But he\u2019s not to be denied, because a minute later \u2026<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 78 min: Italy<\/a> spend a couple of minutes playing some easy-on-the-eye keepball. The clock ticks on.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 76 min: \u2026 although having said that, on the touchline, Michael O\u2019Neill is the picture of calm and reserve. By contrast, his opposite number Gennaro Gattuso is reaching Maradonaesque levels of agitation.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 75 min: Northern Ireland<\/a> stroke it around awhile. Italy seem happy enough to let them do it.<\/p>\n Time is running out for Northern Ireland. Photograph: Alessio Morgese\/DPPI\/ShutterstockShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a017.24 EDT<\/p>\n 73 min: \u2026 Esposito flashes a header goalwards from the right-hand corner of the six-yard box. Hume flicks a defensive header off the line and over the bar! And from the next corner, Barella hoicks over from long distance. Despite it all, Northern Ireland<\/a> are still in this game!<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 72 min: Kean nearly gets the better of Smyth down the left. Smyth is forced to toe-poke out for a corner. One on the left leads to one on the right, and from that \u2026<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 70 min: Italian nerves are still jangling, though. Donnarumma clanks a simple pass out from the back straight at Donley, and is fortunate the ball clips the Oxford man on the back of the heel. A couple of feet to the left and Donley was trapping, then surely scoring. As it is, the ball deflects away from danger.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 69 min: Calafiori romps down the left touchline, keeping the ball in play wonderfully, then cuts back infield for Dimarco, in space just to the left of the D. Dimarco takes a heavy touch and can\u2019t get a shot away. He should have been working Pierce Charles at the very least.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 68 min: Northern Ireland<\/a> make their first change, and it\u2019s an attacking one: Smyth comes on for Devlin.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 66 min: Esposito sprays a first-time pass down the inside-right channel for Kean to barrel after. Kean enters the box and whip-cracks a low shot towards the bottom right. Pierce Charles gets down to parry, and McNair clears the loose ball. That\u2019s Italy\u2019s sixth attempt on target; Northern Ireland<\/a> are yet to manage one.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 64 min: Italy<\/a> make a double change. Bastoni, who could easily have been sent off, is hooked before he actually is. Retegui takes his leave as well. On come Esposito and Gatti.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 62 min: Hume fires a throw in from the right. The ball\u2019s half cleared, and Galbraith returns a volley over the bar. But the whistle goes for a foul in the box anyway.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 61 min: Italy<\/a> have enjoyed 63 percent of possession since the restart. The goal had been coming, even if it wasn\u2019t in the postal system for long. \u201cZola would undoubtedly have featured more for Italy if his direct competitors hadn\u2019t been Roberto Baggio early on, and then Alessandro Del Piero,\u201d notes K\u00e1ri Tulinius. \u201cItaly had some forwards in the 90s. How today\u2019s Azzurri could use a forward of half that calibre.\u201d<\/p>\n What a pair of cloggers, eh? Photograph: Alessandro Sabattini\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a017.14 EDT<\/p>\n 59 min: Bastoni is booked for a cynical tug on an in-flight Donley. Bastoni could easily have been yellow-carded for that yank on Price (51 min) so Northern Ireland<\/a> have cause for complaint here. Should Italy be down to ten?<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 58 min: Northern Ireland<\/a> were beginning to dream. And that huge miss from Retegui will have got them thinking: is this our evening? But Italy came again through Kean, then again via Politano, and what a finish that was by Tonali. Bergamo en f\u00eate!<\/p>\n Share<\/a>GOAL! Italy 1-0 Northern Ireland (Tonali 56)<\/p>\n Italy had suddenly turned up the heat, and they\u2019ve got their reward! Politano crosses from the right. Price, under pressure from Kean, heads weakly to the edge of the D. Tonali meets the dropping ball and pearls a low drive into the bottom right! Such a sweet strike, and Pierce Charles had no chance. The stadium erupts!<\/p>\n Heart fro Northern Ireland as Sandro Tonali scores for Italy. Photograph: Mike Egerton\/PAShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a017.05 EDT<\/p>\n 55 min: \u2026 and nothing comes of the corner. But \u2026<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 54 min: That\u2019s got Italy\u2019s tail up, though, and here they come again. Kean opens his legs down the inside-right channel and whistles a fine low diagonal drive towards the bottom left. It\u2019s heading in, but Pierce Charles extends fully to fingertip around the post! Two huge saves in a minute!<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 53 min: A huge chance for Italy<\/a>, as Retegui latches onto Devin\u2019s dismal backpass and tears clear down the middle. But, under pressure from Spencer on his shoulder, Retegui takes a heavy touch, allowing Pierce Charles to spring forward and smother at his feet!<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 52 min: The free kick is pumped into the Italian box, and earns a rare corner for Northern Ireland<\/a>. That\u2019s sent in my Galbraith, and Donnarumma flaps in an unconvincing fashion. But he does just enough to clear.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 51 min: Politano has probably been Italy\u2019s best player, though the bar is set low. He crosses from the right, hoping to find Kean or Retegui in the middle. McNair clears. Italy come again. Kean goes over. No penalty, though Italy claim for one. Northern Ireland<\/a> counter. Bastoni brings down an in-flight Price, and this is a free kick in a central position, 30 yards out. It is all happening.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 50 min: Tonali crosses from the right. Kean can\u2019t connect. The ball\u2019s half-cleared to Calafiori, who under instruction from an anxious crowd takes a whack from distance. The ball bobbles through to Pierce Charles.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 49 min: Bastoni miskicks a simple clearance. Then Donnarumma nearly allows Donley to close him down. The home fans do not enjoy this passage of play. Nerves the top note.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 48 min: Some head tennis on the edge of the Italy<\/a> box. Hume brings the ball under control, sort of, juggling it a la Best before looping a volley over the bar. And well wide.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 46 min: Tonali bumbles his way down the left wing and falls over in the general environs of Hume. He claims a free kick that he\u2019s never going to get. Gennaro Gattuso throws his arms open wide in the performative fashion. A bit early for all this.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Italy get the second half started. No changes. \u201cGreat to see Gianfranco Zola on the BBC TV coverage,\u201d writes Andrew Goudie. \u201cOne of my favourite players ever. How did he only get 35 caps for Italy<\/a>?\u201d<\/p>\n Unfortunately for Gianfranco Zola, he was just one of the 74,150 stylish Italian numbers 10\u2019s to play in Serie A in the 1990\u2019s. Photograph: Shaun Botterill\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a016.55 EDT<\/p>\n Half-time postbag. \u201cI think Michael O\u2019Neill is a terrific international manager (can\u2019t speak to his work at clubs) and I\u2019d love to see him at a post where he had more to work with – maybe someplace such as the Czech Republic, or Morocco, or even Uruguay once Bielsa\u2019s time passes, as it always seems to\u201d \u2013 Brad Wilson<\/p>\n \u201cI once took a holiday let in Bergamo \u2013 absolutely lovely city, and I had a very pleasant time, thank you. Anyway: my flat was three floors up, and the landlord very carefully explained to me, at some length, how the lift worked. My Italian was of the rudimentary food-ordering variety, so the finer details passed me by. It turned out that the lift for some obscure reason only had enough juice for a certain number of trips throughout the day, and if you were unlucky enough to arrive after the ration had been expended, you had to take the stairs. My misfortune was to get in the damn thing just on the cusp of it running out of power, hence a longish period in the doldrums to the locals\u2019 amusement. There may be some moral here for the Northern Ireland<\/a> team; we shall see\u201d \u2013 Charles Antaki<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Half-time reading. Just so we know where everyone is.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>HALF TIME: Italy 0-0 Northern Ireland<\/p>\n The hosts depart to a few whistles and a lot of concerned muttering. A third successive qualification failure still a very real possibility. Northern Ireland<\/a> will be delighted, though they\u2019ll also be aware that Estonia held Italy here at the break last autumn, and went on to lose 5-0.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 45 min +1: Retegui can\u2019t get a shot away from a tight angle on the right. Northern Ireland<\/a> counter, and Donley drags a shot wide right. This is getting very scrappy, and it will surely suit the visitors more than the hosts.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 45 min: A brouhaha in the middle of the park as Galbraith slides in on Mancini. It could be a booking, but isn\u2019t. Bastoni arrives on the scene and tries to take Donley by the throat. The referee, livid, splits everyone apart and issues an animated bollocking. But no card. Everyone involved slightly fortunate.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 44 min: A bit of space for Devlin, 30 yards from goal. He should feed Hume to his right, but takes a whack himself. Wrong decision. Then another wrong decision from the young Pompey man, who hoicks a cross from the right out for a goal kick. Again he had options in the middle.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 42 min: Politano has looked fairly lively, to be fair. He turns on the jets and makes good down the right, winning yet another Italian corner. Dimarco whips viciously to the near post, where Bastoni flicks inches over the bar. That would have certainly worked Pierce Charles had it been on target.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 40 min: Tonali shovels a pass down the inside-right channel in the hope of releasing Mancini into a pocket of space. McNair comes across to snuff out the move. The Italians are creating very little.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 38 min: Italy<\/a>, out of ideas for now at least, knock it long. Kean battles to make something out of very little, and from the right-hand edge of the D, lashes high and wide. It\u2019s an effort at least. Italy haven\u2019t had many of them.<\/p>\n Moise Kean struggles to control the ball in the box. Photograph: Giuseppe Cottini\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a016.33 EDT<\/p>\n 36 min: Donnarumma clanks a simple pass out of play for a throw down the right. From the throw, McNair sends a curler into the Italian mixer. McConville competes for a header, eight yards out, but Politano clears. A suggestion of handball, but like the Italian enquiry earlier, there\u2019s nothing in it.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 34 min: \u2026 but the throw, when it\u2019s eventually taken, leads to a corner down the right. And from that, Bastoni\u2019s header is deflected wide by Spencer. Another corner leads to a free kick, which again releases the pressure. But Italy<\/a> are starting to apply it with regularity again.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 33 min: Italy<\/a> are certainly getting frustrated. Price stops Barella gathering the ball for a quick throw, slapping it away from his hand. Barella had shoved Price seconds before. Some beneficial advice from the referee as both men square up. Everyone simmers down soon enough.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 32 min: Tonali crosses from the left but Kean heads harmlessly wide. Pierce Charles takes his sweet time over the goal kick, much to the annoyance of the home fans. We\u2019re at this point already, it would seem.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 30 min: This corner leads to some bedlam, but Kean can\u2019t work enough space to shoot, and eventually the ball clanks off the referee, who is obliged to stop play. A slightly lucky break for Northern Ireland<\/a> there, because they were struggling to clear their lines, and it was the first time Italy had looked dangerous for a wee while.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 29 min: \u2026 but there\u2019s absolutely nothing that\u2019s happened there. VAR check over, in short order. But Italy<\/a> come again, winning another corner, this time down the right.<\/p>\n