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.