England start with a win as Kane makes history.

Harry Kane atoned for his World Cup quarter final miss, by scoring a spot kick to become England’s all time top scorer, After a good first half display, the Three Lions beat Italy in Italy for the first time since 1961.

In a repeat of the Euro 2020 final, Declan Rice gave the visitors the lead after thirteen minutes, seizing on Harry Kane’s blocked shot and scoring a close range volley.

England continued to play well, and doubled their lead a minute before half time. After a VAR check, referee Srdjan Jovanović judged that Giovanni Di Lorenzo had handled the ball, and awarded England a penalty.

Having scored one in the World Cup quarter final against France to draw level with Wayne Rooney, before blazing a second spot kick over the bar, the skipper blasted the ball past Gianluigi Donnarumma and into the top right corner to move ahead of the former Manchester United, Everton, and Derby man.

In contrast to the first, the second half was very much played on Italy’s terms. Argentina-born striker Mateo Retegui scored a debut goal, slotting into the bottom right corner in the 56th minute, before the Azzurri pushed for a second.

An Italian equaliser looked even more likely when Manchester United left back Luke Shaw was given his marching orders with ten minutes to play, shown two yellow cards in 54 seconds. But after a couple of defensive substitutions, and Conor Gallagher replacing Jude Bellingham, who limped off, in the middle England saw the game out to start their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign with a win, beating Italy for the first time since August 2012.

Up next for England is the visit of Ukraine to Wembley on Sunday, whilst Italy travel to Malta.