Italy took a big step towards qualification for Euro 2024 on Friday after an eventful 5-2 win over North Macedonia.
Federico Chiesa struck twice in the first half after Matteo Darmian nodded the hosts into an early lead. Giacomo Raspadori and Stephan El Shaarawy secured the three points late on and two second-half strikes from Jani Atanasov threatened a tense night for the Azzurri.
The win at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome moved Italy into second in Group C behind already-qualified England.
North Macedonia had become Italy's bogey team after denying Italy a spot in Qatar and drawing the previous group match in September.
Italy had taken the lead in the 13th minute when Raspadori dinked home from Jorginho's beautifully weighted pass.
That strike was ruled out for offside, but the hosts would not be denied and Darmian headed home the opener from Raspadori's deep cross four minutes later.
That was Inter Milan defender Darmian's second international goal and his first in eight years.
The spectre of another disaster reared its head when Jorginho missed yet another penalty in Italy colours five minutes before the break.
The midfielder's missed spot-kick at the same ground against Switzerland cost Italy direct qualification to the last World Cup, but Jorginho had a chance at redemption when Nikola Serafimov handled Federico Gatti's header.
This time his dribbled effort was easily saved by Stole Dimitrievski.
On the stroke of half-time, Chiesa had his second of the game when his ambitious strike took a wicked deflection off Jovan Manev and past Dimitrievski.
Italy looked home and dry, but Atanasov cut the deficit in the 52nd minute when he ghosted past a dozing Italy defence and headed in with his team's first attempt on target.
Denmark edge out Slovenia
Denmark booked their spot in the Euro 2024 finals with a 2-1 win in their crunch match against Slovenia.
Albania also qualified on Friday, drawing 1-1 in Moldova to ensure they would finish in the top two in Group E.
The Czech Republic drew 1-1 in Poland to leave the second qualifying place from Group E undecided.
Italy moved to second in Group C with a 5-2 home win over North Macedonia. England, who have won the group, eased to a 2-0 home win over Malta.
In Group H, both teams were able to qualify with a win in Copenhagen but the hosts claimed the spoils, with goals either side of the break by Joakim Maehle and Thomas Delaney.
Denmark had the better of the opening exchanges and were rewarded when Maehle slid in at the far post to tuck away an in-swinging cross on 26 minutes.
But the lead only lasted four minutes before Erik Janza curled a left-footed free-kick beyond Kasper Schmeichel.
Earlier, Kazakhstan won 3-1 at home to San Marino to move to 18 points, one behind second-placed Slovenia.
In the same group, Finland kept themselves within a win of third place by beating Northern Ireland 4-0 in Helsinki.
Albania clinched a place at Euro 2024 despite conceding a late equaliser as a they drew 1-1 in Moldova.
Czech Republic had the chance to seal up the Group E qualification spots when they travelled to Poland but could only draw 1-1.
