Late fightback not enough for Destiny and Vicario's Italy in Nations League

Despite a stirring second-half fightback, Destiny Udogie and Guglielmo Vicario's Italy ultimately fell short in their UEFA Nations League quarter-final tie with Germany.

Having suffered a 2-1 first leg defeat to the Germans on home soil on Thursday, the Italians had it all to do when they travelled to Dortmund on Sunday yet, despite fighting back from 3-0 down to earn a 3-3 draw at Signal Iduna Park, it was not enough for them to progress to the competition's finals.

As he did in Milan on Thursday at San Siro, Destiny once again started for his nation and played the full 90 minutes in a drama-packed night in North-Rhine Westphalia.

Trailing 2-1 heading into the return leg, the Azzurri had an even bigger, perhaps unassailable, mountain to climb by half-time as Germany scored three times in the final 15 minutes of the first half to lead 3-0 on the night and 5-1 on aggregate.

Yet, the Italians did respond, and quite emphatically. While they faced a significant deficit, within four minutes of the restart, former Everton forward Moise Kean had pulled a goal back. He then grabbed another 20 minutes later to bring his nation within two goals of Germany.

A VAR Review then denied the Italians a penalty less than 10 minutes later before they were awarded another in added time - and this time it counted and they dispatched it to draw level on the night.

However, despite the comeback, it was not to be enough due to Germany's first-leg victory still giving them the advantage in the tie - a slim victory which sent them through to June's Nations League Finals which they shall host.

Guglielmo was an unused substitute for the game. He has four caps to his name while Destiny has 11.