Pazzini wraps up Azzurri triumph

Second-half substitute Giampaolo Pazzini scored on his Italy debut as the holders defeated Montenegro 2-0 in Podgorica to strengthen their hand at the top of FIFA World Cup qualifying Group 8.

Pirlo penalty
The UC Sampdoria striker came on in the 59th minute and took less than 15 minutes to make his mark as he headed in a cross from Simone Pepe, sealing the points after Andrea Pirlo's eleventh-minute penalty. The victory moves the Azzurri on to 13 points, two ahead of Wednesday's visitors to Bari, the Republic of Ireland, who were held 1-1 by Bulgaria in Dublin.

Handball
Things began inauspiciously for Italy when forward Antonio Di Natale was forced off on nine minutes with a knee injury, his Udinese Calcio team-mate Pepe replacing him. Two minutes later, though, Marcello Lippi's men were ahead as Pirlo stroked in the spot-kick after his cross had been handled in the area by Montenegro defender Radoslav Batak. Pepe fired wildly over on 23 minutes with only Vukašin Poleksić to beat after a raking pass from Daniele De Rossi, while Gianluigi Buffon had to be alert at the other end to deny Stevan Jovetić as the ACF Fiorentina attacker attempted to restore parity from outside the box.

Buffon save
Vincenzo Iaquinta passed up a superb opportunity to double the lead early in the second half after being teed up by Pepe, a miss he was almost made to regret as Radomir Đalović forced Buffon into a brilliant reflex stop after 67 minutes. Pazzini showed his colleague how to do it on 74, diving to nod in Pepe's centre as Italy maintained their unbeaten start to the section.