In the night’s other David and Goliath clash, Russia grabbed a workmanlike 2-0 win away to Andorra in Group B thanks to two goals from Pavel Pogrebnyak.
The Republic of Ireland, who felt themselves cheated out of a place at the World Cup when Thierry Henry’s handball set up the winner for France in their playoff match, joined Russia at the top of the group after escaping with a 1-0 win away to Armenia.
While Blanc was suffering the ignominy of defeat, Italy’s new coach Cesare Prandelli was able to celebrate — but only after an almighty scare.
The hosts opened the scoring in the 31st minute when Sergei Zenjov struck after Italian goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu lost his grip on the wet ball.
The 2006 world champions just managed to halt their seven-game win drought thanks to second-half goals from Antonio Cassano and Leonardo Bonucci.
England’s commanding win over Bulgaria will have come as a relief to another Italian coach in Fabio Capello, whose position was called into question after England’s limp exit to Germany at the World Cup.
“Overall, the performance was really, really good,” Capello said.
“The movement without the ball was fantastic and Defoe is always very important for us,” he said.
Friday’s other results:
Group B
• Slovakia 1, Macedonia 0
Group C
• Faroe Islands 0, Serbia 3
• Slovenia 0, Northern Ireland 1
Group D
• Luxembourg 0, Bosnia 3
• Romania 1, Albania 1
Group E
• Moldova 2, Finland 0
• Sweden 2, Hungary 0
Group F
• Greece 1, Georgia 1
• Latvia 0, Croatia 3
Group G
• Montenegro 1, Wales 0
Group I
• Lithuania 0, Scotland 0
Group H
• Iceland 1, Norway 2
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