There was nothing to separate the teams at the top of Group C in terms of points accrued heading into the contest at Stadio Olimpico and that is how it remained after a gripping 90 minutes in Rome.

The Azzurri fell behind to a powerful Silvan Widmer drive after 11 minutes but hit back through fellow right-back Giovanni Di Lorenzo's header before half-time. 

European champion Italy had a glorious chance to win the game in the 90th minute and take control at the summit, but Jorginho skied his spot-kick to set up a tense final round of fixtures.

Noah Okafor was handed a full debut for injury-hit Switzerland and played a big part in his side's early opener, the Salzburg forward leading a counter and pulling the ball back for Widmer to power past Gianluigi Donnarumma from the edge of the box.

After a spell of Switzerland domination that saw Okafor and Xherdan Shaqiri go close, Italy soon grew into the match and would have been level if not for a superb Yann Sommer save to keep out Nicolo Barella from a few yards.

But the hosts did find an equaliser before the interval thanks to a smart set-piece that was converted by Di Lorenzo, who got in front of Sommer to bravely head home, the goal allowed to stand after a video assistant referee (VAR) check ruled out offside or any sort of foul.

Italy won 3-0 when the sides met in the Euro 2020 group stage at the same venue, but its next shot after Di Lorenzo's 36th-minute leveller did not arrive until 22 minutes from time through a wayward Emerson Palmieri drive.

The hosts' chance to all but seal top spot in the group arrived two minutes from time when Ulisses Garcia was adjudged to have nudged over fellow substitute Domenico Berardi following a VAR review, but Jorginho blasted over the crossbar from 12 yards.

There was nearly time for another twist, but Andi Zeqiri failed to connect with Djibril Sow's cutback in front of a gaping goal after Donnarumma's dreadful touch gave the ball away in the box.

There is nothing between Italy and Switzerland heading into Tuesday's (AEDT) concluding fixtures and that is also the case for their respective opponents, with Northern Ireland and Bulgaria on eight points apiece in Group C.