Italy win seven-goal thriller

Italy returned to the top of World Cup qualifying Group Five with a 4-3 win over Belarus on Wednesday leaving coach Marcello Lippi simply thankful for the points.

"Maybe we haven't got the sense of security that we need yet but the important thing was the victory, to get three points and get command of the group again," said Lippi.

Four goals came in the final 16 minutes of a game Italy led 3-1 after two goals from Francesco Totti but, after Saturday's defeat to Slovenia, Lippi was in no mood to criticise his team.

"We lacked a bit of focus in the early stages but then when we got the first goal it released the pressure and we played well, entertainingly well at times," said Lippi.

"We were controlling things and they didn't even get near our goal," added the former Juventus coach.

The Italians led 2-0 at the break after a twice-taken Totti penalty and a Daniele De Rossi strike but Belarus hit back with a spectacular 30-metre drive from striker Maxim Romashchenko.

"It was an exceptional piece of individual play," said Lippi. "You can't do anything about that other than applaud. It was extraordinary.

"It gave them a real psychological boost and they had their best spell of the game then," he added.

Totti restored Italy's two-goal cushion with a curling free kick but a mistake from Gennaro Gattuso allowed substitute Vitaly Bulyga to keep Belarussian hopes alive with a 77th minute goal to make it 3-2.

"That was really the only error we made in the whole match and we paid for it. But the important thing is that we were able to pick ourselves up and find the strength to respond and make it 4-2."

Alberto Gilardino's 86th minute header looked to have wrapped the game up for the Azzurri but with a minute of normal time remaining Romashchenko struck again, this time a brilliant free-kick.

Belarus coach Anatoly Baidachny said his team deserved praise for their second-half display but criticised the way they had let Italy take charge of the game before the break.

"To be honest, I really thought we could get a result out of that game but we lost it in the first half," he said.