Italy have defeated Malta 2-0 away from home in their World Cup Group B qualifier, thanks to a double from Mario Balotelli.

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The Azzurri surged ahead as early as the eighth minute when Stephan El Shaarawy was brought down by Luke Dimech inside the hosts' penalty box.

The striker's AC Milan teammate Balotelli stepped up to take the spot kick and made no mistake from 12 yards.

Minutes later El Shaarawy curled a shot that went just wide of the far top corner of the Malta goal and when he found the target soon after, his effort was ruled out for offside.

Malta had a good chance to restore parity on 16 minutes when they earned a penalty after Gianluigi Buffon committed a foul on Andre Schembri inside his own 18-yard box.

However, Buffon redeemed himself by keeping out Michael Mifsud's spot kick.

Mifsud had another good chance to equalise for Malta moments later when his long-range effort dipped over Buffon and onto the crossbar.

Italy went into the half-time interval 2-0 up, as Balotelli scored his second goal of the evening on 45 minutes by turning in Mattia de Sciglio's delivery.

The Azzurri could have scored their third goal of the match in the opening minutes of the second half had Emanuele Giaccherini not seen his effort saved.