Italy vs. Bulgaria: Score and Reaction from Euro 2016 Qualifier

Daniele De Rossi stole the show in Italy's 1-0 win over Bulgaria on Sunday, scoring the only goal of the Euro 2016 qualifier from the penalty spot and getting sent off in the second half for kicking at an opponent.

Ilian Micanski also saw red for the incident, which effectively took all the fun out of a match that looked so promising in the first half. Italy dominated and should have scored at least two or three more goals, but instead, they allowed Bulgaria to hang around and nearly paid for it in the final minutes.

Following Norway's win over Croatia, Italy now lead Group H by two points.    

As reported by Squawka, veteran goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon earned his 150th cap for the Azzurri, the most amount of matches anyone has ever played for the nation:

Football Italia's Luca Cetta shared this image of a young Buffon in his very first match ever for the Italians, a World Cup qualifier against Russia in 1997:

The hosts didn't look particularly impressive in their last outing, a 1-0 win over football minnows Malta, and they were determined to do better on Sunday. From the opening whistle, Italy pushed forward, and Graziano Pelle immediately drew a nice save from goalkeeper Bozhidar Mitrev.

Just three minutes later, Antonio Candreva earned his side a penalty when Yordan Minev appeared to trip the Lazio forward, although replays suggested he greatly exaggerated the contact.

Sportnet's Peter Galindo thought Candreva's impact on the side was obvious:

"

Antonio Candreva enters vs. Malta & the Azzurri look more threatening. He starts today & draws a penalty. No coincidence.

— Peter Galindo (@GalindoPW) September 6, 2015"

De Rossi stepped up and fired the ball home, but the official forced him to retake the penalty because of encroachment. The Roma man remained unnerved, calmly slotting the ball past Mitrev to give Italy the lead.

Bulgaria looked shocked to concede so early and could hardly string together three passes in a row. Stephan El Shaarawy and Pelle both had a solid look on goal, but both failed to put their shot on target.

The Azzurri seemed to be in total control, but out of nowhere, Bulgaria almost equalised. De Rossi lost the ball in midfield, and Micanski almost took advantage. But his low drive was parried superbly by Buffon. The people running the team's official Twitter account were a little excited over the stop:

The sudden chance appeared to wake the Italians up, and the team started pushing for a second goal. Pelle just missed the target with a header after a great free-kick from Marco Verratti, and Matteo De Sciglio drew another fine save from Mitrev after a beautiful team move.

Pelle had another good shot on goal but once again blasted over. Marco Parolo had perhaps the best chance of the first half, but his shot was blocked by a defender after some great work from Pelle.

Per Football Italia, the Italians were starting to get a little too wasteful:

Bulgaria could muster few chances in return, with the Italian defence looking as solid as ever. Matteo Darmian and Leonardo Bonucci in particular made strong impressions during the first half, which ended with the 1-0 score still on the board.

Football Italia's David Swan liked what he saw from the hosts in the first half:

The Italians picked up right where they left off in the second half, with El Shaarawy testing Mitrev early. Bulgaria, who lacked intensity during the first half, were clearly instructed to play more aggressively in the second half, and soon enough, things started getting chippy.

De Rossi and Micanski were involved in a major incident just before the hour mark, as the Bulgarian barged into the goalscorer's back and kept on kicking at him as he went down. De Rossi, not known to keep a cool head at times like these, responded, and both were given their marching orders.

Marco Messina shared footage of the incident:

Per Giancarlo Rinaldi, De Rossi made the kind of history you'd rather not make with the sending off:

Immediately after, Minev cynically brought down De Sciglio, and the Bulgarian was lucky to only receive a yellow. 

Todor Nedelev fired Bulgaria's best chance up until that point over the bar, and it became clear the loss of De Rossi was hurting Italy's ability to close down spaces near the box. On the other side of the pitch, Candreva and El Shaarawy put together another fine move, but once again, the two couldn't find a way to finish.

As bright and exciting as the Azzurri were in the first half, they were the complete opposite in the second. There were hardly any chances of note, as the team preferred to just sit back and defend the lead. Swan's optimism vanished in a hurry:

Bonucci forgot he was a defender and tried to take on the entire Bulgarian team on his own with a solo run, only to see Alessandro Florenzi not give him back the ball. The Juventus defender then should have scored but somehow managed to power a header over the bar from close range.

Bulgaria came close to equalising in stoppage time, but Buffon once again came up big for the Azzurri, preserving the win with another fine stop.

Italy finish the qualification round with matches against Azerbaijan and Norway, and following the latter's shock win over Croatia earlier on Sunday, the battle at the top of Group H is once again wide-open. The Azzurri lead Norway by two points and Croatia by three, so two more solid results are sorely needed.

Azerbaijan haven't looked particularly impressive on the road, but at home, they're a tough team to break down. A win is a must, however, to avoid uncomfortable situations at home against Norway.

Post-Match Reaction

Speaking to Rai Sport (h/t Football Italia), Azzurri manager Antonio Conte kept his comments on the incident involving De Rossi brief, saying simply: "He shouldn't do that." He also thought his team deserved more goals:

"

We were able to get six points from two games. Considering the situations we created, it’s a shame the result was in the balance to the end, as we had dominated throughout and deserved more goals. I saw the right effort and physicality.

[...] I only remember one Buffon save on our gift. Gigi is a guarantee back there. I repeat, we need to be more determined in attack and make more of our chances, because we don’t have a good conversion rate.

"

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