Early morning of October 11 (Vietnam time), 2 matches of Group A2 of League A UEFA Nations League took place. At home, Italy hosted Belgium in the highlight match.
The Blues fans were optimistic about their third consecutive win after an impressive start to the season to secure top spot. That optimism was magnified when it took Luciano Spaletti's side just 61 seconds to open the scoring.
Federico Dimarco escaped down the left wing and crossed, the Belgian defender's attempt to clear the ball did not have enough force, the ball hit the goalkeeper and bounced right into the path of Andrea Cambiasso, who put the ball into the net.
With Belgium without Kevin de Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku, it took 20 minutes for the first response, with Jeremy Doku's effort blocked by Riccardo Calafiori.
Just four minutes later, the home team took another step towards victory, when Mateo Retegui doubled the lead.
In such a good and favorable match, captain Lorenzo Pellegrini became the sinner right at his familiar Olimpico stadium, with an unnecessary tackle on Arthur Theate, receiving a direct red card in the 38th minute.
In the following free kick, Maxim De Cuyper scored to shorten the score to 1-2.
In the second half, thanks to the advantage of having more players, the Belgian team controlled the game with 8 shots (compared to 1 of the home team), and one of them became a goal by Leanro Trossard in the 61st minute, equalizing the score 2-2.
The visitors missed several chances to leave with three points, while with one more point, Italy retained their top spot but were only one point ahead of France.
In the match taking place at the same time, the French team - although without Kylian Mbappe or Antoine Griezmann, won 4-1 against the Israeli team. This match took place at the Bozsik Arena in Hungary.
France currently has 6 points and will next play against Belgium on their home field, while Italy will continue to play at home against Israel in the early morning of October 15.
