Euro 2024 qualifiers: Italy apply pressure on England after cruising past Malta

Italy applied the pressure on England ahead of their match with the Group C leaders by cruising to a 4-0 victory over Malta on Saturday, while Denmark, Slovenia and Hungary all won to close in on qualifying for Euro 2024.

European champions Italy, who failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, had few problems at the Stadio San Nicola in Bari against a struggling Malta side without a win so far in the qualifying campaign for the tournament in Germany.

Luciano Spalletti's side were missing several key players, including Ciro Immobile, Lorenzo Pellegrini, Mateo Retegui and Federico Chiesa, all sidelined by injury.

Sandro Tonali and Nicolo Zaniolo also left the squad earlier this week after being informed of their involvement in an investigation by Turin prosecutors.

Italy's win leaves them in second place ahead of Ukraine on the basis of head-to-head record; Italy defeated Ukraine 2-1 in Milan last month, with the reverse fixture in Germany set for November 20.

Ukraine stayed level with Italy on 10 points following a 2-0 against North Macedonia, although the Azzurri have a match in hand on all their group rivals except England, who top the group with 13 points.

England host Italy in their next qualifier on Tuesday.

Giacomo Bonaventura opened the scoring after 23 minutes, netting his first international goal with a skillful curled effort into the top corner from just inside the penalty area.

At 34 years and 53 days, midfielder Bonaventura became the oldest Italy player to score his first goal for the national team – more than 10 years after his debut.

"Sorry it took so long, I got there eventually," he told Sky Sports Italia. "I was lucky, it went well ... these games against a very defensive team are tough to open