Erling Haaland’s brace leads Norway to historic 4–1 win over Italy, securing ticket to 2026 World Cup

That wraps up our live coverage of the UEFA 2026 World Cup qualifier between Italy and Norway. With a dominant 1-4 win, Erling Haaland side concludes the competition with a perfect score, while Italy is forced to be once again to the playoffs. Stay tuned for more updates and coverage of the qualifiers!

Norway defeated Italy away in a crushing 4-1 result, with goals from Francesco Pio Esposito for the Azzurra, and Antonio Nusa, Erling Haaland (2) and Jorgen Strand Larsen for the Scandinavian side!

Thorsby played a great pass to Strand Larsen, who after leaving defender Mancini on the floor, scored the 4th goal for Norway in a historic result.

Three more minutes has been announced as added time!

Boss Solbakken makes the last two modifications of the game: David Moller Wolfe and Erling Haaland for Leo Ostigard and Jorgen Strand Larsen.

Gattuso makes the last two modifications for Italy: Nicolo Barella and Alessandro Bastoni coming out for Alessandro Buongiorno and Samuele Ricci.

After a long ball, Thorsby plays a perfect pass for Haaland to slot Norway's third goal at San Siro!

Following Haaland's goal, Gattusp makes other two modifications: Mattia Zaccagni and Gianluca Scamacca in, Francesco Pio Esposito and Manuel Locatelli out.

Erling Haaland slots the second goal with a clinical volley following Bobb's cross, completing Norway's comeback.

More substitutions for Norway to look for the comeback: Krtistian Thorsvedt and Alexander Sorloth out, Thelo Aasgaard and Oscar Bobb in.

Dimarco struck a volley that was saved by Nyland, who also caught the left back's cross, saving Norway twice!

Donnarumma saves Italy's goal once again after Nusa connected with Ryerson's corner kick.

Pio Esposito receives Italy's latest booking after another protest over referee Hernandez Hernandez.

Gennaro Gattuso stars moving  pieces on the pitch, bringing Bryan Cristante in for Davide Frattesi.

After protesting over the decision to stop the game after an accidental touch, Hernandez Hernandez decided to book Alessandro Bastoni.

Norway makes the first substitutions in the game: Marcus Berg out, Morten Thorsby in!

Dribbling on the left flank, Antonio Nusa unleashed a powerful strike with his left foot, impossible for Donnarumma to save!

With Retegui sitting on the back post, defender Ajer clears the ball following Politano's cross to save Norway!

With Norway pushing forward, Italy players are unable to recover the ball.

After a series of rebounds inside the box, right back Ryerson captured the ball, shooting off wide Donnarumma's goal!

After a counterattack, Sorloth cut inside to try another shot, this time going slightly wide!

Sorloth unleashed a fierce shot with his right foot, hitting the side netting!

With Italy leading 1-0 over Norway, Alejandro Hernández Hernández blows the whistle for the beginning of the second half.

Italy is leading 1-0 against Norway at halftime in the UEFA World Cup qualifiers, with striker Francesco Pio Esposito being the author of the only goal of the game.

After a foul over Ryerson in the middle of the pitch, Nicolo Barella earns the first yellow card of the game among players.

The referee has added two more minutes to the first half between Italy and Norway.

After complaining on a foul over striker Retegui, Italy boss Gattuso saw the first yellow card of the game!

With Italy sitting back, Norway is in possession of the ball in its own half.

After a great collective play, Dimarco once again delivered a cross to Esposito, who headed a ball that went slightly wide!

Overloading from the left side looking for spaces, defender Bastoni delivered a cross straight to keeper Nyland's hands.

In Norway's first approach to Donnarumma's goal, Antonio Nusa unleashed a strike outside the box that went up.

After struggling in the first minutes, Norway is getting comfortable with the ball, with Italy slowing the pace down.

With Erling Haaland and the whole team supporting the defense, Norway is yet to force a save from goalkeeper Donnarumma.

Keeping momentum after scoring the first goal, Italy is still pushing Norway, who's struggling to produce chances!

Following a great play between Dimarco and Retegui on the left flank, Esposito captures the ball on the 6-yard box, and with a classy finish, scores the opening goal for Italy!

After a rebound coming from a cross from Politano, Dimarco makes his shot, but goes wide!

With Norway defending in a low block, Italy is dominating the possession of the ball, but still no clear chances.

Italy and Norway are now playing in the World Cup qualifiers.

Italy will be focused on scoring as many goals as possible, but one of its biggest concerns will be on the other end of the pitch: Erling Haaland.

The star striker, after 19 matches in the 2025–26 season, has already hit the 30-goal mark: 19 with Manchester City and 11 with Norway. Sitting atop the UEFA 2026 World Cup Qualifiers scoring chart with 14, he’ll be a major threat to the Azzurri.

The venue for the UEFA 2026 World Cup qualifier between Italy and Norway will be the iconic San Siro/Giuseppe Meazza. The stadium, located in the heart of Milan, will welcome more than 75,000 fans as they roar on the national team in a must-win matchup.

Home to both AC Milan and Inter Milan, San Siro is slated for demolition in 2031, with the clubs planning to build a new modern venue. As the stadium enters its final years since opening in 1926, Italy will hope to deliver yet another memorable night on its historic pitch.

Alejandro Hernández Hernández has been appointed as the referee for the World Cup qualifier game on Sunday. The Spaniard has officiated one game for Italy (2-1 vs. Ukraine in 2023), and one game for Norway (0-3 vs. Turkey in 2021).

Match officiating team:

Referee: Alejandro Hernández Hernández
1st Assistant: José Naranjo
2nd Assistant: Diego Sánchez Rojo
Fourth Official: José María Sánchez
VAR: Carlos del Cerro Grande
AVAR: Valentín Gómez

Italy enters Sunday’s game with a positive record against Norway across 16 meetings: eight wins for the Azzurri, four for the Scandinavian side, and four draws.

However, the most recent matchup won’t inspire much confidence for Italy, especially given how recent it was. The last time the two nations met was on June 6 of this year, when Norway rolled to a dominant 3-0 victory.

Even if Italy manages to close the 3-point gap with Norway with a win on Thursday, the Azzurri will need much more than that to reach the top of Group I.

With Norway sitting at a +29 goal difference and Italy at +12, the hosts would have to win by nine goals or more to surpass Erling Haaland’s side, an almost impossible task given Norway’s strong form.

Head coach Stale Solbakken has confirmed the lineup to face Italy at San Siro: Orjan Nyland; Julian Ryerson, Kristoffer Ajer, Torbjorn Heggem, David Moller Wolfe; Kristian Thorstvedt, Patrick Berg, Sander Berge, Antonio Nusa; Alexander Sorloth, Erling Haaland.

Head coach Gennaro Gattuso has chosen the 11 players that will start the game against Norway: Gianluigi Donnarumma; Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Gianluca Mancini, Alessandro Bastoni; Matteo Politano, Nicolo Barella, Manuel Locatelli, Davide Frattesi, Federico Dimarco; Mateo Retegui, Francesco Pio Esposito.

Italy and Norway are set to face each other at 2:45 p.m (ET).

You can watch the World Cup qualifier live on Fubo, DirecTV Stream, Sling, FS1 and ViX

Welcome to our live blog for the match between Italy and Norway on Matchday 8 of Group I in the UEFA 2026 World Cup qualifiers. Stay tuned for minute-by-minute coverage of the game!