Italy needed only a draw to progress to the quarter-finals, but in the seventh minute they showed they were in no mood to settle for a point when Nicolo Fagioli’s low strike towards the near post was kept out by Senne Lammens, who did brilliantly to get up and smother Niccolo Pisilli’s effort on the rebound.
Only three points would do for Belgium, who went close soon after when Kevin De Bruyne’s free-kick from out wide almost caught out Gianluigi Donnarumma, only for the Italian goalkeeper to gather and launch an Azzurri attack, which resulted in a Michael Kayode cross from the right being turned in by the outstretched leg of Pio Esposito.
The Red Devils were not ruffled by the early setback, and were level again before the 15-minute mark as a wayward De Bruyne shot was kept alive by Timothy Castagne and Charles De Ketelaere, who helped it across for Maxim De Cuyper to bury from six yards.
Midway through the first half, the Belgian turnaround was complete when Brandon Mechele’s back-post header from a De Bruyne corner was blocked, but Nathan Ngoy bundled in the rebound for his first international goal.
Five minutes later, Belgium were two clear after Jeremy Doku collected a loose ball 25 yards out, weaved between four defenders, and fired past Donnarumma.
Belgium kept the pressure on and came agonisingly close to a fourth before half-time when De Bruyne won possession in the Italian box and unleashed a fierce effort which Donnarumma tipped onto the inside of the post and away.
Italy were unbeaten since the reverse fixture on matchday one, and after starting the second half with intent, their troubles against Belgium persisted, as Napoli’s De Bruyne planted a strike a whisker wide before Atalanta’s De Ketelaere saw a lofted effort hit the crossbar.
Donnarumma continued to win his personal duel with De Bruyne by getting down quickly to a one-on-one chance, before Youri Tielemans failed to guide a bicycle kick through a crowd.
The final quarter of the match was the Diego Moreira show, as he saw one effort deflect onto the roof of the net and a second curl just wide before finally icing the cake for Mark van Bommel’s side with 10 minutes left, when Doku and De Bruyne combined on a lightning counter-attack before Moreira applied a simple finish.
It’s the first time since 2020/21 that Belgium have progressed to the latter stages of the Nations League, while Roberto Mancini’s side have lost an away match inside 90 minutes for the first time in nine matches, compounded by Esposito having an injury-time penalty saved by Lammens after VAR spotted a handball by Nicholas Raskin.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium)