Italy recovered from an early own goal to beat the Netherlands 2-1 away in a friendly last night and cap a miserable few days for the hosts who sacked manager Danny Blind at the weekend.

Italy’s Alessio Romagnoli deflected the ball into his own net after 10 minutes but Eder equalised within 60 seconds and centre back Leonardo Bonucci swept home a loose ball from a corner in the 32nd minute for the winner at the Amsterdam Arena.

Defeat for the Dutch came after a tumultuous period in which their World Cup qualification hopes were handed a severe blow by a 2-0 loss in Bulgaria on Saturday after which Blind was fired.

Under caretaker coach Fred Grim, the Netherlands began in fiery fashion yesterday and a quick set of passes between Davy Klaassen and Quincy Promes inside the Italy area saw the ball come off Romagnoli’s foot into the net to put the hosts ahead.

Leonardo Bonucci

But the Italians were level within a minute as a floated free kick was poorly cleared by Wesley Hoedt straight to Eder who fired home from outside the area. It was a replica of the second goal the Dutch conceded in Sofia on Saturday.

Netherlands defender Bruno Martins Indi headed against the bar from Memphis Depay’s corner after 27 minutes but five minutes later Italy went in front when Romagnoli’s effort from a corner brought a superb one-handed save from Jeroen Zoet, only for Bonucci to crash the ball into the roof of the net.

An error by Bonucci early in the second half gave Promes a chance but he was denied by a fine save from Italy’s teenage goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.

Torino’s Serie A top scorer Andrea Belotti came off the bench to force several good saves from Zoet, who also denied debutant Leonardo Spinazzola in the final 10 minutes.

Spain’s Gerard Deulofeu scored one and created another but had to share the limelight with the video assistant referee in a 2-0 friendly win over France in Paris yesterday.

David Silva put the visitors ahead from the penalty spot on 68 minutes after Deulofeu was fouled in the box by France defender Laurent Koscielny.

The on-loan Milan winger then converted a Silva cross nine minutes later, but was flagged offside.

The goal, however, was awarded after German referee Felix Zwayer asked the video assistant to check the decision.

France striker Antoine Griezmann, who plays in Spain with Atletico Madrid, had hit the back of the net with a header early in the second half, but his effort was disallowed after the video referee correctly said defender Layvin Kurzawa, who was involved in the move, was offside.

Results
Albania vs Bosnia - 1-2
Austria vs Finland - 1-1
Estonia vs Croatia - 3-0
Ireland vs Iceland - 0-1
Macedonia vs Belarus - 3-0
Netherlands vs Italy - 1-2
Russia vs Belgium - 3-3
Portugal vs Sweden - 2-3
France vs Spain - 0-2