Haaland’s Deadly Double Sinks Italy 4-1 as Norway Claim Perfect Record. Italy 1-4 Norway: Haaland’s Brutal Masterclass Sends Azzurri Crashing into Play-Offs. San Siro, Milan – 16 November 2025 On a night when the Curva Sud tried to summon the ghosts of Meazza, Baresi and Maldini, the present-day Azzurri were ruthlessly exposed.
Norway, led by the unstoppable Erling Haaland, produced a devastating second-half blitz to inflict a 4-1 humiliation on Italy and seal a perfect 100 % record in World Cup qualifying. For the first time since 1958, Italy must navigate the play-offs to reach the World Cup. 
Final Score Italy 1–4 Norway Esposito 14′ Nusa 56′, Haaland 68′, 69′, Strand Larsen 90+4′ Attendance: 72,413 (sell-out) Man of the Match: Erling Haaland (Norway) – 9.7 rating.
The Backdrop: Mission Impossible at the San Siro Even before kick-off, the arithmetic was cruel. Italy needed to win by nine clear goals to leapfrog Norway on goal difference. Everyone knew it was fantasy. Luciano Spalletti had already paid with his job after the 3-0 defeat in Oslo in June; interim boss Carmine Nunziata (promoted from the U21s) was merely firefighting until the FIGC appoints the next “saviour”. With one eye on the play-off semi-finals in March, Nunziata rested Sandro Tonali and Andrea Cambiaso (both one booking from suspension) and was without the entire injury list from hell: Moise Kean, Riccardo Calafiori, Niccolò Cambiaghi, Leonardo Spinazzola, Giorgio Scalvini, Destiny Udogie and Federico Gatti. The only good news was Nicolò Barella’s return from his one-match ban. 
Norway, under Ståle Solbakken, arrived with a 7-0-0 record, 33 goals scored and just three conceded. Haaland (19 goals in seven qualifiers) and Martin Ødegaard (12 assists) were in the form of their lives. This wasn’t David vs Goliath; it was Goliath with a rocket launcher.
First Half: Esposito’s Dream, Italy’s False Dawn Italy actually started brightly. Federico Dimarco, captain for the night in the absence of several seniors, whipped in an early cross that Julian Ryerson completely misjudged. Francesco Pio Esposito – the 20-year-old Inter striker handed his first senior start – pounced. Back to goal, seven yards out, he spun Kristoffer Ajer and rifled low past Ørjan Nyland. San Siro exploded. 1-0 after 14 minutes. 
For a fleeting moment, the impossible felt possible. Esposito nearly made it 2-0 with a glancing header from another Dimarco peach that flashed inches wide. David Moller Wolfe’s reckless lunge on the youngster earned a yellow and a furious roar from the crowd. Norway looked rattled. Ødegaard misplaced three passes in the opening 20 minutes – a personal record for the season. But Italy’s intensity couldn’t be sustained with such a patched-up midfield of Barella, Locatelli and Frattesi. Manuel Locatelli’s weak shot straight at Nyland summed up the lack of cutting edge. 
As the half wore on, Norway settled. Alexander Sørloth blasted just over from 20 yards and Kristian Thorstvedt’s whipped cross kissed the far post. 1-0 at the break felt like a minor miracle.
Second Half: The Haaland Show Whatever Solbakken said at half-time should be framed in the Norwegian FA headquarters. Norway emerged like men possessed. 56′ – Nusa announces himself to the world Matteo Politano’s attempted clearance cannoned off Antonio Nusa and fell kindly for the 19-year-old RB Leipzig winger. From just inside the box he unleashed a vicious left-foot rocket that took another nick off Politano and flew past Donnarumma into the top corner. 1-1. San Siro fell silent. 
The next 15 minutes were a blur of Norwegian brilliance and Italian panic. 68′ – Haaland’s volley from another planet Oscar Bobb, on for the injured Sørloth, floated a perfect cross from the right. Haaland, completely unmarked at the far post, met it with a thunderous first-time volley that arrowed into the roof of the net. Donnarumma didn’t even move. 2-1. The travelling 4,000 Norwegians in the third tier bounced so hard the stadium cameras shook. 69′ – One minute later, humiliation complete Alessandro Bastoni, under no pressure, rolled a suicidal back-pass straight to Morten Thorsby. The Genoa midfielder surged forward and squared for Haaland to tap into an empty net from three yards. 3-1. Sixty seconds. Two goals. Game over. Career over for a few Italian reputations. Haaland stood motionless in front of the Curva Sud, arms outstretched, soaking in the boos like applause. Pure theatre. Italy were shells. Politano curled one inches wide, Scamacca had a turn-and-shot charged down by debutant Bologna centre-back Torbjørn Heggem, but it was academic. 90+4′ – The final nail With literally the last kick, substitute Jørgen Strand Larsen collected on the left, nutmegged Gianluca Mancini and bent a gorgeous 20-yard curler into the bottom far corner. 4-1. The San Siro emptied long before the whistle.
Final Whistle Scenes Norwegian players formed a huddle in the centre circle, Haaland in the middle roaring like a Viking king. Italian players stood motionless. Barella kicked a water bottle 20 rows into the stand. Donnarumma stared at the sky. Esposito, the one bright spot, was in tears on the pitch – consoled by Ødegaard of all people. Norway finished the group with 24 points, 37 goals scored, 5 conceded – the most dominant European qualifying campaign since Germany 2010. 
Italy? Second place with 17 points and now condemned to the play-offs in March. One bad night in Oslo and one catastrophic half in Milan have turned the four-time world champions into Europe’s nearly men.
Player Ratings
Italy (3-5-2) Donnarumma 5.0 | Di Lorenzo 5.5 | Mancini 4.0 | Bastoni 3.5 | Darmian 5.0 | Barella 6.5 | Frattesi 5.5 | Locatelli 4.5 | Dimarco 6.8 | Politano 5.5 | Esposito 7.2 (MotM Italy) Subs: Scamacca 5.0 | Raspadori 5.5 | Rovella 5.0.
Norway (4-3-3) Nyland 6.8 | Ryerson 6.0 | Ajer 7.0 | Østigård 7.5 | Wolfe 6.5 | Thorsby 8.0 | Berge 8.2 | Ødegaard 8.8 | Bobb 8.5 | Haaland 9.7 (MotM) | Nusa 8.7 Subs: Strand Larsen 8.0 | Daehli 7.0 The Numbers That Hurt Haaland in qualifying: 21 goals + 6 assists in 8 games Norway’s away goals in Italy: 7 in two visits (3-0 Oslo, 4-1 Milan) Italy’s home goals conceded in one night: most since 1957 Shots in second half: Italy 2, Norway 14 Passes completed by Ødegaard: 92 % (78/85) What Happens Next 
Norway are the first European team mathematically into Pot 1 for the World Cup draw on 5 December alongside Brazil, Argentina, France, England and Spain. Italy will be in the play-off draw on 22 November. Possible semi-final opponents include Portugal, Croatia, Netherlands or Poland. One more slip and 1958 repeats itself.
Final Thought
Francesco Pio Esposito’s 14th-minute goal briefly lit up the San Siro and reminded everyone of the talent still coming through. But for 45 devastating second-half minutes, Norway – Haaland, Ødegaard, Nusa, Bobb, Thorsby, Berge – showed that the future of European football might just be wearing salmon red, not azzurro.
The king is dead. Long live the Viking.
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