Italy overcome Buffon blunder, earn late draw with Spain in Turin

Updated: May 17, 2023, 05:55 am

A late Daniele De Rossi penalty earned Italy a point against a dominant Spain side in their World Cup qualifier in Turin on Thursday night.

The visitors looked like they would inflict a first World Cup qualification defeat on Italy for eight years when Sevilla's Vitolo gave them a deserved lead at the Juventus Stadium following a mistake from Gianluigi Buffon.

But De Rossi salvaged a 1-1 draw for Italy with a penalty seven minutes from time after Sergio Ramos was adjudged to have fouled Eder inside the box.

Ciro Immobile thought he had won the game for the hosts but his late goal was correctly ruled out for offside to leave the Group G giants sharing the spoils.

Italy had beaten Spain 2-0 in the round of 16 at the European Championship over the summer, but this time around it was the visitors who should have sealed a victory.

Daniele De Rossi scored Italy's equaliser in the 82nd minute.
Daniele De Rossi scored Italy's equaliser in the 82nd minute.
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Spain started brightly and could have had the lead but Andres Iniesta shot straight at Buffon after a superb run.

It was Diego Costa who then came close to turning home Vitolo's pass but the Chelsea forward could not make contact with the ball before Gerard Pique missed a header from six yards out with the visitors well on top.

Pique would get a header on target just before the half-hour mark, but it was too close to Buffon as the first half somehow ended goalless.

But Vitolo would strike 10 minutes after the interval as Buffon rushed out to clear Sergio Busquets' through ball only to completely miss his kick and allow the Spain winger to finish into an empty net.

The Sevilla man should have secured the win later in the half but he dragged a shot wide when played through on Buffon's goal.

And his miss would prove costly as Italy grabbed a scarcely-deserved point when Ramos tripped Eder in the box with the game heading towards it's conclusion.

De Rossi stepped up and sent Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea the wrong way, with Immobile then seeing a potential winner chalked off for offside after he bundled the ball over the line with three minutes remaining.