Norway played with the Italian stars in the pouring rain at Ullevaal Stadium on Friday.
Ståle Solbakken’s men won 3–0 against Luciano Spalletti’s team.
Italy and Napoli player Giovanni Di Lorenzo acknowledges that they had a poor performance.
– It’s a bad loss. Now there are three days until we play again, so we don’t have time to think too much about this game. I’m sorry, but we have to turn the page right away, Di Lorenzo tells NRK.
UGLY: Italy and Napoli player Giovanni Di Lorenzo was not in a good mood after the match.
The next match for Italy is against Moldova on Monday.
The group winner goes directly to the 2026 World Cup, while the second place team must go into a play-off. Norway leads the group with nine points after three matches. Italy has zero after their first.
– You prepared for Erling Braut Haaland and Martin Ødegaard, but were you prepared for Antonio Nusa?
– You prepared for Erling Braut Haaland and Martin Ødegaard, but were you prepared for Antonio Nusa?
– We knew about Norway’s qualities, not just Ødegaard and Haaland’s. We knew they had quality players, the defender answers.
Norway 3 – 0 Italy – Pictures from TV 2
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Disappointed star goalkeeper
A disappointed Gianluigi Donnarumma declined an interview with NRK before entering the player bus.
But the goalkeeper made a brief comment to the press after the match. The contrast is stark for the PSG player, who celebrated Champions League gold with his club team less than a week ago.
– We are Italy, we can’t play games like this, says Donnarumma.
TOO BAD: Gianluigi Donnarumma was naturally not happy after the Norway match.
Not Merciful: – Nightmare
While Antonio Nusa & co. dribbled their way through the Italian defense, Jannik Sinner played in the semifinals at Roland Garros.
A semi-final that the Italian press prioritized higher on their websites than the World Cup qualifier against Norway.
But the press still followed closely, and was not merciful in its criticism.
– It was a shameful performance. After being down by three goals there was no reaction in the second half. Obviously the difference between these two teams was so clear tonight, Andrea Ramazotti told NRK after the match.
He is a reporter for La Gazzetta dello Sport. He calls Italy’s performance a complete crisis.
– How do you move on after this? asks NRK.
– How do you move on after this? asks NRK.
– It’s difficult. If it hadn’t been such a big loss, maybe things would have been different. Now Italy has to hope that Norway makes a mistake.
Norway continues to attack despite a three-goal lead. Italy is unable to intimidate Solbakken’s team in any way.
The major newspaper Corriere della Sera has this at the top:
Nightmare for “gli azzurri” in Oslo.
“Gli azzurri” is the nickname for the Italian national team, and comes from the kit color, which is blue.
Statistics service Opta reports that the Norway match is the first time Italy has ever conceded three goals or more in one half in a World Cup qualifying match.
– It must be the best half Norway has played at Ullevaal. Period, says NRK’s football expert Kristoffer Løkberg and continues:
– After a somewhat difficult start, they have simply been better than Italy in all phases of the game.
PS! Sinner advanced to the final at Roland Garros. There, the Italian will meet reigning champion Carlos Alcaraz. The match will be played on Sunday.
Norway meets Estonia on Monday.