The big news: Daniele De Rossi does the job for Italy

Italy earned a draw in their 2018 World Cup qualifier clash against Spain on Friday, thanks to a late penalty from Daniele De Rossi. Spain took the lead in the second half when keeper Gianluigi Buffon missed an attempted clearance to leave Vitolo to net the ball and go 1-0 up.

Italy rarely threatened Spain’s goalpost but, after Sergio Ramos tripped Eder, Daniele De Rossi equalised to extend his country's unbeaten run in qualifiers to 52 games. The last time the Azzurri (as the Italian national football team are called) lost a World Cup or European qualifier was in September 2006 when they were beaten 3-1 by France.

Other top stories:

  1. Wales were held to a 2-2 draw by a stubborn Austrian defence in their 2018 World Cup qualifier on Friday. Joe Allen's strike put Wales ahead in Vienna but Austria’s Marko Arnautovic drew level within minutes. Wales got their second through Kevin Wimmer's own goal. However, sloppy defending allowed Arnautovic to score his second for the night to draw level. Wales will miss Allen owing to injury he sustained in the clash and is doubtful for Sunday's match at home to Georgia.
  2. Former Aston Villa defender Antonio Luna and Eibar team-mate Sergi Enrich have apologised after a sex video appeared online. The players released a joint statement saying that they were not responsible for leaking the video of a "private act involving fully consenting adults". The pair were dropped for Eibar's friendly against Leganes on Wednesday.
  3. Kosovo lost 6-0 to Croatia in their first competitive home fixture, which was played in Albania as they did not have the infrastructure required to host an international game. Juventus striker Mario Mandzukic scored a first-half hat-trick after which Matej Mitrovic, Ivan Perisic and Nikola Kalinic scored in the second half.
  4. Argentina were held to a 2-2 draw against Peru in their World Cup qualifying campaign on Friday. Ramiro Funes Mori and Gonzalo Higuain were both on target for the visitors as they looked set for a win. However, Mori was punished for fouling Paolo Guerrero, who scored Peru’s first goal, and Christian Cueva’s penalty earned Peru a late draw.
  5. Brazil ran riot against Bolivia as the Olympic gold medalists scored five goals in their World Cup campaign on Friday. Goals from Neymar, Phillippe Countinho, Fillipe Luis, Gabriel Jesus and Roberto Firmino were on target for Brazil. 
  6. Defending champions Chennayin FC were beaten 3-1 by Delhi Dynamos at the Marina Arena in Chennai on Thursday. Marcelinho scored a first-half brace and Badara Badji scored the third, deep in the second half for Delhi. Dudu scored the lone goal for the Chennai outfit.