England will head to the World Cup on the back of a six-match winless sequence but with at least some pride and confidence restored after a thrilling 3-3 draw at home to Germany in the Nations League on Monday.

European champions Italy, who missed out on a place at the World Cup in Qatar, claimed a place in the final four with a 2-0 win away to Hungary, thanks to goals by Giacomo Raspadori and Federico Dimarco in their last League A-Group 3 game.

Gareth Southgate’s listless side trailed 2-0 to Ilkay Gundogan’s penalty and a superb effort by Kai Havertz with less than 20 minutes remaining and boos beginning to resound at Wembley in their final Group A3 match.

But they responded in thrilling fashion with goals by Luke Shaw and Mason Mount in the space of four minutes drawing them level — England’s first goals from open play in 5-and-a-half competitive matches.

Harry Kane’s 83rd-minute penalty then appeared to have given Southgate’s side a morale-boosting victory.

But four-time world champions Germany, themselves in a poor run of form heading to Qatar, salvaged a point as Havertz capitalised on a goalkeeping error by Nick Pope in the 87th.

Substitute Bukayo Saka almost won it for England late on as the fans were left scratching their heads at why the hosts had taken so long to play with any freedom.

Under pressure for his starting place in England’s team, Harry Maguire also didn’t help his cause.

England finished bottom of the group with three points behind Germany on seven, Hungary with 10. Italy topped the group on 11 points.

It is more than 100 years since England last went six competitive games winless but they at least changed the narrative with a stirring fightback against Germany.

“The boys have been under pressure with recent results and we all came out here with a point to prove,” Kane said.

“There are lessons we can still learn from the mistakes we made but we scored three goals and I feel like this will put us in a positive mindset ahead of the World Cup.”

Both sides needed a preWorld Cup tonic after poor Nations League campaigns with England suffering the ignominy of relegation after losing 1-0 away to Italy last Friday, the same night Germany lost by the same scoreline at home to Hungary.

The last time the two heavyweights met at Wembley, in the Euro 2020 finals, England won 2-0 and were riding a wave of euphoria. But the mood has turned sour mainly because of a woeful lack of goals — Kane’s late penalty in Germany being their only goal in their previous five Nations League games.

A lacklustre first half underlined England’s lack of creativity although Raheem Sterling had two chances — first when he was played in by Shaw to force a fine save from Marc-Andre ter Stegen and then shooting tamely from a good position.

Germany were equally bereft of attacking spark but were gifted an early chance when Pope’s nervy clearance was charged down and Gundogan curled the ball over the bar.

Germany manager Hansi Flick sent on forward Timo Werner to partner his former Chelsea teammate Havertz for the second half and the visitors went ahead in the 52nd minute with a goal that summed up Maguire’s recent woes.

Mancini ‘happy’

The Italians are finding it easier to qualify for Nations League finals than World Cups. They also got to the 2021 tournament, losing to Spain in the semi-finals on home soil in their first few months as the reigning European champion.

Plenty has changed in the team since beating England in the European Championship final last year, not least up front where Raspadori is making his mark.

Three days after scoring the winner against England in Milan, the Napoli striker put Italy ahead after Adam Nagy’s back-pass came up short.

Wilfried Gnonto challenged goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi for the ball, which bounced free and Raspadori was alert to round Gulacsi and convert his finish in the 27th.

Gianluigi Donnarumma produced a string of diving stops before Nicolò Barella played a ball through at the other end to Bryan Cristante, who crossed for Dimarco to score from close range for his first goal for Italy.

“We’re happy — it’s important to have reached the Nations League final four for the second time,” Italy coach Roberto Mancini said.

Other key results

⚫ Montenegro 0 Finland 2

⚫ Romania 4 Bosnia and Herzegovina 1

⚫ N. Macedonia 0 Bulgaria 1

⚫ Gibraltar 1 Georgia 2