Norway was all but assured of a place at next year's showpiece ahead of Sunday's clash, but it had a perfect qualification campaign in its sights.

However, It was dealt a blow in the 11th minute.

Federico Dimarco volleyed an early chance wide before setting up Francesco Pio Esposito for the opener; the wing-back played in the cross for the striker, who brilliantly turned to poke it past Orjan Nyland.

Neither side could create much else of note in the first half, but Norway upped the pressure after the break, with Alexander Sorloth blazing a couple of efforts over.

The pressure paid off shortly after the hour when Antonio Nusa drilled a dipping shot past Gianluigi Donnarumma to restore parity, though the goalkeeper twice denied him shortly after.

At the other end, Nyland was in fine form to keep out Dimarco and Esposito in quick succession before Haaland swept a volley past Manchester City team-mate Donnarumma in the 78th minute.

He got his second just under 90 seconds later, flicking a lovely effort home to score his 16th goal of the qualifying campaign before Jorgen Strand Larsen rounded off the scoring in stoppage time.

Norway top Group I with 24 points, while Italy will have to settle for a play-off spot after finishing second, six points further back.

It has been an incredible qualifying campaign for Norway, who have scored 37 goals while conceding just five, and Haaland has been at the heart of it all.

He scored 16 goals, more than any other European player, and matched Robert Lewandowski's single-campaign record.

It was an incredible second half for Norway, who managed just one off-target shot in the first period, as they finished with 13 attempts to Italy's 15.