Motta fired home after neat play involving Federico Balzaretti to give his side an almost unassailable six-point lead in the group.

Italy were on top throughout and Alberto Aquilani almost opened the scoring when he hit the post in the early stages. Slovenia's best chance was a long-range Robert Koren strike which was well saved by Gianluigi Buffon.

Italy's Group C rivals Serbia had to come from behind to beat Northern Ireland 2-1 in Belgrade in a match watched by just 265 visiting supporters due to FIFA sanctions over previous crowd trouble.

Nigel Worthington's men threatened a famous upset when Gareth McAuley sent a looping header past Serbia keeper Zeljko Brkic five minutes before half-time.

But after Kyle Lafferty and Chris Brunt missed great chances to increase the lead, Serbia fought back with Marko Pantelic equalising after 65 minutes and Zoran Tosic firing home a 74th-minute winner.

World Cup runners-up Holland maintained their 100% record in Group E with a crushing 4-0 win over Hungary in Budapest.

Rafael Van der Vaart opened the scoring with just eight minutes on the clock and Ibrahim Afellay made it two on the stroke of half-time. Dirk Kuyt and Robin van Persie rounded off an impressive Dutch performance.

France, who included Patrice Evra and Franck Ribery in their starting line-up for the first time since the World Cup, laboured to a 2-0 win in Luxembourg in Group D with goals from Philippe Mexes and Yoann Gourcuff.

In Group A, Belgium gave their hopes a major boost as Axel Witsel scored twice in a 2-0 win in Austria, who had started the night in second place.