Substitutes sap Russian resolve

Italy 2-0 Russia

Inspired substitutions
After a tepid first period, Italy coach Marcello Lippi made four changes at the interval. The move proved inspired and transformed the game as within 18 minutes of the restart, the Azzurri had a two-goal lead and were coasting to an easy victory.

Montella return
Lippi handed starts to in-form strikers Vincenzo Montella and Christian Vieri after prolonged periods out of the international spotlight. But the pair failed to make an impact, however, as Italy dominated possession but failed to break the deadlock against a lacklustre Russian side.

Malafeyev save
Italy started brightly, almost grabbing an early lead, when visiting keeper Vyacheslav Malafeyev pulled off an excellent reflex save to prevent Giuseppe Pancaro's deflected free-kick sneaking into the corner of his net. But Russia, wearing black-and-white shirts as part of the Europe-wide anti-racism campaign, always looked threatening on the counterattack.

Vieri denied
Midway through the half, Marat Izmailov slid a dangerous ball across the face of Italy's goal, but there was nobody on hand to add the finishing touch. It was the visitors' best opportunity of the half, while at the other end Italy came much closer. First Vieri headed against the post before Andrea Pirlo struck the bar with a free-kick.

Langella shot
At half-time, Lippi replaced Montella, Vieri and Francesco Totti with Gilardino, Mauro Esposito and Antonio Langella, while Barone came into the midfield. The changes injected a sense of urgency in to the home side and seconds into the second half, Langella latched on to Esposito's crossfield pass but blasted his shot straight at Malafeyev.

Gilardino goal
Esposito was again the provider ten minutes later, racing down the right wing and squaring to Gilardino, who rounded the advancing keeper before turning the ball into the net from a tight angle. Six minutes later Barone doubled the lead with a long-range effort that ricocheted in off the post.

Yartsev task
Russian striker Dmitry Sychev headed narrowly over the bar late on. But it would have been a false scoreline and Russia coach Georgi Yartsev knows his side must improve before their FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign restarts against Liechtenstein on 26 March and Estonia four days later. Italy, the Group 5 leaders, resume their campaign against Scotland in Milan on 26 March.