Gennaro Gattuso refused to dwell on the mistakes his Italian players made after beating Estonia 3-1.
Mateo Retegui missed a penalty before getting on the scoresheet, while Gianluigi Donnarumma’s blatant error allowed Estonia to score a late consolation goal in Tallinn.
However, the Azzurri continued their perfect start under Gattuso and have now scored thirteen goals in three games during his reign – more than in their first three games under any other manager.
The win moves Italy to within six points of World Cup qualifying Group I leaders Norway with a match to go ahead of their upcoming clash against third-placed Israel.
13 – Italy have scored 13 goals in their first three games under Gennaro #Gatuso – no other manager has seen the Azzurri score more than 10 times in his first three games in charge. Unseen.#EstoniaItalia
— OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo) October 11, 2025
Gattuso has encouraged his side to keep pushing and learn from their mistakes, rather than dwell on what went wrong.
“We have a mission: to grow one match at a time, stick together and work hard and then build our confidence,” Gattuso said.
“Seeing this spirit, we may make some mistakes, but I remain very happy with the performance.
“We have to keep pushing and hope to keep growing as well. Gigio’s mistake was just a moment, I rarely see a team dominate so completely for 90 minutes. If anything, it can help remind us of the importance of focus.
“The most important thing is to create the chances. You can miss them and also see penalties saved, but the most important thing is to get those chances.”
“We have to keep going like this and recover because our history suggests that we always have a harder time in the second game. There is a lot at stake, as if we win, then Israel is out of the running and we can prepare for the play-offs with more peace.”
Moise Kean scored the opening goal for Italy after four minutes, but had to be replaced shortly afterwards due to an ankle injury.
The Fiorentina forward became only the fourth player to score in at least four consecutive World Cup qualifiers for the Azzurri, after Luigi Riva (five, 1968-72), Roberto Bettega (four, 1976-77) and Filippo Inzaghi (four, 2000-2001).
Gattuso gave an update on the striker: “We’ll see, his ankle was painful and we hope it’s nothing serious because we need everyone. In any case, it was good that Pio [Esposito] took action and scored.”
Italy is unlikely to beat Norway even if they win all three remaining matches, as the leaders have a goal difference of +26 to the Azzurri’s +7, with a home match against Estonia still to come.
#Gattuso #Italys #mistakes #win #Estonia #Soccer #News