Italy's players embrace Gianluca Zambrotta who scored the fourth goal

The Europeans totally dominated the match and the pressure told as early as the 15th minute when Tunisian defender Riadh Bouazizi failed to clear a high ball and headed into his own net.

The goal left the inexperienced home team in disarray.

Tunisia were forced to go into the match without four international players from local club Esperance who were involved in a second round second leg Champions League match against Contonsport Garoua in Cameroon.

Ziad Jaziri from Turkish side Gaziantepspor and Ajax's Hatem Trabelsi were ruled out with injury while Brazilian-born Francileudo dos Santos of French side Sochaux had family commitments.

In the 27th minute, the unmarked Fabio Cannavaro headed in from a corner kick to make it 2-0 for the visitors.

Coach Giovanni Trapattoni made six changes at half time but his side stayed in top form as the Milan duo Gennaro Gattuso and Andrea Pirlo, left no space for the Tunisians who failed to create any scoring chances.

Goalkeeper Boumnijel made two poor errors

Five minutes from the final whistle Tunisian goalkeeper, Ali Boumnijel, was stunned by a 20-metre free kick by Pirlo, which curled into the back of the net.

Things got even worse for Boumnijel after he failed to secure the ball from a corner kick. Gianluca Zambrotta made no mistake with the loose ball striking home in the first minute of stoppage time.

Tunisia will host Botswana on 5 June in the first of their World Cup qualifying matches.