Italy survives spirited fightback to edge Brazil in a five-goal thriller

Mendoza (Argentina), May 22 (IANS) A sublime performance from Cesare Casadei earned Italy a 3-2 victory over Brazil in a thrilling game of two halves at the FIFA U-20 World Cup Argentina 2023.

The Chelsea-owned midfielder's flick-on enabled Matteo Prati to head home the deadlock-breaker at the back post. Casadei then doubled the lead, nodding home after his initial knock-down wasn't dealt with. He then conned Arthur and won a penalty, which he himself converted.

Brazil went for it in the second half. Sebastiano Desplanches denied them once with a fine block, but he was powerless to prevent Marcos Leonardo's snapshot finding the bottom corner.

Leonardo then got his and Brazil's second to make for a nervy finale, but Italy held on to make a winning start to their Group D campaign.

Notably, Brazil reappeared in the competition after missing out on qualification in the two previous editions.

Brazil conceded more than two goals in a FIFA U-20 World Cup game for the first time in 16 years. Gerard Pique was among the scorers as Spain beat them 4-2 at Canada 2007, although two of the victory goals came in extra-time.