Italy win nine-goal thriller against Israel to keep World Cup hopes on track

Sandro Tonali scored in added time as Italy kept their World Cup qualifying hopes on track with a thrilling 5-4 win over Israel in Debrecen.

The Israelis twice led and then scored twice in the last five minutes to haul the score back to 4-4 before Tonali threaded his last-gasp winner from the edge of the box.

The result was harsh on Israel, who went ahead through Manuel Locatelli’s early own goal and grabbed the lead again through Dor Peretz after Moise Kean had equalised.

Kean’s second, followed by further strikes from Matteo Politano and Giacomo Raspadori, looked to have settled it only for Alessandro Bastoni to put through his own net on 87 minutes, and Peretz to grab his second two minutes later.

Liverpool superstar Alexander Isak could not save Sweden from an embarrassing 2-0 defeat to Kosovo in Pristina.

Short on match fitness, Isak was introduced in the 72nd minute of the Group L clash, but it was too late for the Swedes who had already fallen behind to first-half goals from Elvis Rexhbecaj and Vedat Muriqi.

Switzerland took full advantage of Sweden’s mishap as goals from Nico Elvedi, Breel Embolo and Dan Ndoye saw them seize control of the group with a 3-0 stroll against Slovenia.

Denmark continue to set the pace at the top of Group C as goals from Mikkel Damsgaard, Andreas Christensen and Rasmus Hojlund helped them claim an impressive 3-0 win over Greece in Piraeus.

But Scotland remain level-pegging at the top as they extended their unbeaten start with a 2-0 win over Belarus.

Che Adams opened the scoring just before half-time and a Zakhar Volkov own goal midway through the second half sealed the win for the Scots in their behind-closed-doors clash in Zalaegerszeg.

Croatia cruised to their fourth straight win in Group L with a 4-0 victory over Montenegro, who were reduced to 10 men on 42 minutes following the dismissal of Andrija Bulatovic.