Costa lifts Spain, Italy avoid shock in Macedonia

Chelsea striker Diego Costa continued his fine run of goalscoring form to help Spain secure a deserved 2-0 win over Albania in Shkoder, while Italy left it late to snatch a comeback 3-2 win in Macedonia.

Costa, who leads the Premier League scoring chart with six goals, tucked away the first on 55 minutes past goalkeeper Etrit Berisha who had pulled off a series of fine saves in the first half.

Manchester City forward Nolito hit the second of the night just three minutes after coming on as a substitute for Vitolo.

“This was a very difficult match even if it appeared easy,” Nolito said. “Albania are a good side who know how to play.”

Spain lead Italy on goal difference in Group G after Italy maintained their perfect start to 2018 World Cup qualifying, but it was a far from convincing display in Skopje.

Italy needed an injury-time winner from Lazio striker Ciro Immobile to secure the points. They were staring at a shock defeat against a side ranked a 146 in the world.

Torino striker Andrea Belotti had given Italy a 24th minute lead just four minutes after Palermo marksman Ilija Nestorokvski had crashed a drive off the crossbar for the hosts.

But Nestorokvski levelled just before the hour mark when he robbed Marco Verratti before tucking the ball past veteran goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon.

Two minutes later, Macedonia were ahead when midfielder Ferhan Hasani finished a smart move involving Goran Pandev and Nestorovski.

However Immobile put Italy back on equal terms at 2-2 with 15 minutes left after good approach work from Verratti and Antonio Candreva.

On 90 minutes, Marco Parolo had a header ruled out for offside before club teammate Immobile saved Italy with the winner two minutes into injury time, finishing off a Candreva cross.

“We were weak and let up in the second half. You can’t give anything away at international level, we had to be more ruthless,” admitted Immobile.

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