Gattuso's Italy among victors in goal-filled weekend of World Cup Qualifiers

 ROME - A weekend free from the rivalries and emotions of the new Serie A season saw the most recent round of UEFA World Cup Qualifiers take place across the globe, with the big hitters all in action at least once, and goals not in short supply.

 Italy faced Estonia on Friday evening, with all eyes on the Azzurri in Gennaro Gattuso’s first match as manager. The Italians did not disappoint and bounced back from recent mixed form to emerge 5-0 victors in Bergamo.

 They face Israel on Monday evening in their second match. Gattuso’s youthful danger men Matteo Retegui and Moise Kean repaid his faith in them with three goals between them.

 A welcome three points and boost to the goal difference statistics for the Italian faithful after rather disappointing outings in the last round of fixtures, where both goals and points were hard to come by.  

 There was no shortage of goals in general, with many of the major nations in action and finding it rather easy to find the back of the net.

 England emerged 2-0 victors on Saturday night against Andorra, with an own goal and a Declan rice header proving enough for the men in white, who play Serbia on Tuesday evening.

 Spain were the weekends top entertainers, with 3-0 and 6-0 wins against Bulgaria and Turkey respectively. Arsenal’s Mikel Merino hit the ground running, scoring against Bulgaria before saving the best until Sunday, where his hattrick helped Spain ease past Turkey.

 Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal brushed aside Armenia on Saturday, with Ronaldo scoring a brace in the 5-0 win.

 Napoli’s recent acquisition Kevin De Bruyne was at the heart of both of Belgium’s 6-0 victories, against Liechtenstein and Kazakhstan. Napoli fans would have been pleased to see him in action, as he contributed a goal against Liechtenstein, and a brace and an assist in the second match, and will hope he can bring his fine form back to the Diego Armando Maradona stadium when the Serie A returns this Saturday.