Dominic Solanke struck twice as England reached their first-ever FIFA U20 World Cup final with an incredible second-half comeback in Jeonju.
Italy took the lead after just two minutes through Riccardo Orsolini, the Young Lions being caught cold from a quick free-kick.
But after the interval England looked a class above their opponents and two Solanke goals in the final 24 minutes, sandwiched an Ademola Lookman strike to send Paul Simpson’s youngsters through to Sunday’s final.
Six of the starting line-up were stung by Italy 12 months ago at the European Under-19 Championship semi-final.
And they must have been fearing the worst just two minutes in when, following a quickly taken free-kick, Andrea Favilli broke down the left-flank, turned inside Fikayo Tomori and squared to Orsolini who finished first time.
England were finding opportunities to break through a rigid Italian defence difficult to come by, their sole chance in the opening 20 minutes falling to Kieran Dowell who met Lookman’s deep cross with a chip that nestled onto the roof of the net.
Three minutes before the break Solanke was inches away from levelling the score. The Liverpool-bound forward ran across goal to meet Kyle Walker-Peters’ cross from the left, helping it on with a glancing header that bounced wide.
