European champions Italy secured third place in the UEFA Nations League after defeating the Netherlands in a five-goal thriller on Sunday afternoon.
UEFA Nations League
Result: Netherlands 2-3 Italy
Date: 18 June 2023
Venue: De Grolsch Veste
Dutch coach Ronald Koeman made just one change from the loss to Croatia as Noa Lang came in for Teun Koopmeiners, while the likes of Bryan Cristante, Marco Verratti, Wilfried Gnonto, Mateo Retegui and Giacomo Raspadori were recalled for Italy.
The Italians got off to the perfect start when Federico Dimarco opened the scoring with a powerful strike into the far corner after being teed up by Giacomo Raspadori.
The lead was doubled in the 20th minute when Davide Frattesi got his name on the scoresheet after taking advantage from slack defending to fire home from close range in a one-on-one situation.
After a slow start to the first half, the Dutch should have pulled one back in the 40th minute when Cody Gakpo weaved his way into the box but sent his lob wide of the mark with only Gianluigi Donnarruma to beat.
The chances fell for the Dutch in the opening ten minutes of the second half, with Gakpo being denied by Donnarumma after Virgil van Dijk's long ball before the Liverpool star squandered another a few minutes later.
Koeman's charges did pull a goal back in the 68th minute as Steven Bergwijn got on the end of Gakpo's cross at the far post, before skipping past Dimarco and rifling into the top corner.
However, any hopes of a Netherlands comeback were dashed in the 72nd minute when a swift counter attack ended with Frattesi playing in Federico Chiesa who fired home from close range to make it 3-1.
The Netherlands did have the ball in the back of the net ten minutes later when Weghorst did well to finish from close range, however celebrations were cut short after the striker was judged to be offside by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR).
The second goal did arrive in the 89th minute when Georginio Wijnaldum finished off a well-worked passing move to set up a nervy finish, before nine minutes of time were added on.
However, the Italians were able to see out the latter stages of time added on to claim the win and the bronze medal.
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