Detailed comments and predictions for the match Italy vs Albania in Group B of EURO 2024 taking place at 2:00 a.m. on June 16.
The Italian team began their journey to defend the EURO championship with a match against Albania. Facing the team that is rated as the weakest in the group, the blue army must win.
Comments and performance of Italy vs Albania
After winning the EURO 2020 championship (taking place in 2021), the Italian team encountered a big shock. The team nicknamed “Azzurri” failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup. This defeat is a strong blow to the pride of Italian football fans.
The current blue team is a new version after coach Luciano Spalletti replaced the position of his predecessor Roberto Mancini. They passed the qualifying round without much success.
Italy faces Albania.
Italy only won 4 matches, the remaining were 2 draws and 2 defeats. Gianluigi Donnarumma and his teammates only won a spot at EURO 2024 after holding Ukraine to a draw in the final match, thereby equaling points with this opponent and ranking higher thanks to the secondary index.
Italy’s record in 4 friendly matches before the tournament was 3 wins, 1 draw. The most obvious problem for coach Spalletti is scoring goals. The first match against a weak opponent is a good opportunity for Italian strikers to gain momentum and prepare for the remaining two important matches in the group stage.
Italy is in decline but they still outperform Albania. Although the team led by coach Sylvinho topped the qualifying group with the participation of the Czechs and Poland, they are still far away from the leading “powers”.
Compare force
Italy does not have the services of Nicolo Zaniolo, Domenico Berrardi, Destiny Udogie (injured) and Sandro Tonali (banned). Coach Spalletti had to eliminate Francesco Acerbi and Giorgio Scalvini because both of them could not recover in time.
Albania cannot compare with Italy in terms of popularity and player names. However, they also have members who understand Italian football very well. That is Berat Djimsiti playing for Atalanta and Kristjan Asllani playing for Inter Milan.
Here I am in Italy: Donnarumma; Di Lorenzo, Buongiorno, Bastoni, Dimarco; Cristante, Jorginho; Frattesi, Pellegrini, Chiesa; Scamacca
Albania expected lineup: E. Berisha; Hysaj, Ismajli, Djimsiti, Mitaj; Asllani, Ramadani; Asani, Bajrami, Seferi; Broja
Score prediction
Italy 1-0 Albania