italy's controversial debutant eder saved his adopted country from a major embarrassment with a fantastic late strike to lift spirits ahead of their friendly against england on tuesday criticism aimed at azzurri coach antonio conte for picking the brazilian born eder – named by his football loving parents after the 1982 brazil world cup star of the same name – was forgotten as the sampdoria striker produced a brilliant finish after 84 minutes to preserve italy's unbeaten record in euro 2016 qualifying group h italy striker eder (left) celebrates scoring late equaliser with coach antonio conte  eder's late strike extended italy's unbeaten run in euro qualifying to 45 matches  bulgaria (4 2 3 1): mihailov, manolev, bodurov, aleksandar aleksandrov, minev, gadzhev, dyakov, milanov (ventsislav vasilev 88), popov (slavchev 85), mihail aleksandrov, mitsanski (bojinov 73) subs not used: stoyanov, bandalovski, stoychev, terziev, malinov, chochev, tonev, radoslav vasilev, mitrev booked: dyakov goals: popov 11, mitsanski 17 italy (3 5 2): sirigu, barzagli, bonucci, chiellini, antonelli (gabbiadini 77), candreva, verratti, bertolacci (soriano 71), darmian, zaza (eder 58), immobile subs not used: marchetti, moretti, cerci, ranocchia, valdifiori, parolo, pelle, vazquez booked: immobile, soriano,darmian goals: minev 4 og, eder 84 att: 6,000  ref: damir skomina (slovenia) eder citadin martins, to give him his full title, turned brilliantly on the edge of the penalty area and hammered a right foot curler that gave goalkeeper nikolay mihaylov no chance ex manchester city manager roberto mancini, now in charge of inter milan, was among those who opposed his selection and said the azzurri should only pick italian born players eder didn't move to italy until he was 16 his late equaliser saved italy from a major humiliation in rain soaked sofia despite being gifted an early lead with an own goal, conte's team then capitulated to trail 2 1 after 17 minutes against opponents who had only managed to beat azerbaijan in their other four group games even so, the italian manager now faces an uncertain reception in turin against roy hodgson's three lions with juventus fans also blaming him for a knee injury to midfielder claudio marchisio sustained in azzurri training on friday italian football federation president carlo tavecchio claimed on saturday that death threats issued over the internet against conte had left the manager “shaken” and angry conte left juventus to replace cesare prandelli after last summer's world cup and he rounded on his critics after saturday night's draw by saying: 'i am ok – but i don't forget you can draw your own conclusions ivelin popov equalised for bulgaria with an 11th minute strike on saturday night  kuban krasnodar midfielder popov celebrates his goal against italy in sofia  ciro immobile of italy challenges aleksandar aleksandrov and goalkeeper nikolay mihaylov  'in terms of the performance and the chances created, we deserved the victory it’s a shame, as we achieved the bare minimum with the utmost effort in an arena that is traditionally difficult 'i liked the lads, we dominated the game and they were restricted purely to counter attacks' bulgaria are a far cry from hristo stoichkov's side that reached the world cup semi finals in 1994 and the match seemed to be going according to the formbook after four minutes when goalkeeper mihaylov pushed a cross into the path of defender yordan minev who couldn't help it crossing the line for an own goal without legendary goalkeeper gianluigi buffon who was taken ill with flu shortly before the match, italy's traditionally strong rearguard was left all at sea italy struck early when goalkeeper mihaylov pushed a cross into the path of defender yordan minev  bulgaria hit back when georgi milanov's pinpoint cross to the far post was headed home by ilian micanski  bulgaria's ivelin popov, right, and italy's leonardo bonucci battle for control in torrential rain  bulgaria's ivelin popov, 2nd left, takes free kick at the vassil levski stadium in sofia  paris st germain no1 salvatore sirigu didn't look a bad replacement but he had no chance with bulgaria's equaliser after 11 minutes when ivelin popov took advantage of a back pedalling defence to arrow in a low shot from 18 yards incredibly, bulgaria then quickly went ahead italian striker simone zaza carelessly lost the ball by the halfway line going for a mazy dribble and the home side counter attacked at speed georgi milanov's pinpoint cross to the far post was aimed for ilian micanski and he got ahead of sluggish defender andrea barzagli to expertly headed in beyond sirigu it was beyond the dreams of the bulgarian fans, most of whom were getting thoroughly soaked by a torrential downpour in fact, the national stadium was only half full because of low expectation among home fans but those who turned up were rewarded conte sent on eder for zaza as a desperate measure to salvage a point – and it worked italy, second in their group, are now firm favourites to qualify for euro 2016 alongside leaders croatia who they face in zagreb in june conte will definitely be without marchisio for england's visit even though initial reports the midfielder suffered ligament damage look unfounded with medical tests showing nothing more serious than a sprain while buffon will do his best to return from his illness the only premier league player on show, southampton striker graziano pelle, was an unused substitute for italy but could face england and his saints team mate nathaniel clyne this week
italy bulgarian yordan minev bulgaria ivelin popov's 20 metre ilian micanski eder sofia
italy had grabbed the lead in the fourth minute when the bulgarian left back yordan minev put the ball into his own net . bulgaria levelled thanks to ivelin popov's thunderous 20 metre drive that ended his 17 month international goal drought . ilian micanski made it 2 1 for bulgaria but ebutant eder scored a fantastic late equaliser in sofia 