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Some pre-match reading. Courtesy of the good doctor.
Spain make one change to their starting line-up after the 3-0 win over Croatia. Aymeric Laporte takes the place of Nacho in defence. Rodri and Alvaro Morata start after being substituted against Croatia due to minor injuries.
Italy are unchanged after their 2-1 victory over Albania. No great surprise there: that opening group win was their fourth in their last five games.
The teamsSpain: Simon, Carvajal, Le Normand, Laporte, Cucurella, Gonzalez, Rodri, Fabian, Yamal, Morata, Williams.
Subs: Raya, Vivian, Merino, Joselu, Olmo, Torres, Grimaldo, Remiro, Baena, Zubimendi, Oyarzabal, Jesus Navas, Lopez, Perez, Nacho.
Italy: Donnarumma, Di Lorenzo, Bastoni, Calafiori, Dimarco, Frattesi, Jorginho, Barella, Chiesa, Scamacca, Pellegrini.
Subs: Buongiorno, Gatti, Raspadori, Vicario, Darmian, Bellanova, Cristante, Mancini, Retegui, Zaccagni, Fagioli, El Shaarawy, Cambiaso, Folorunsho, Meret.
Referee: Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).
— Selección Española Masculina de Fútbol (@SEFutbol) June 20, 2024PreambleIt’s the European Championship finals, so of course it has to be Spain v Italy. This is the fifth finals in a row in which these two giants of European football meet. Spain beat the Azzurri in the quarter-finals of Euro 2008, then trounced them 4-0 in the Euro 2012 final, a record win in the showpiece as they became the first team to retain the European Championship. Italy have got their own back since, beating La Roja in the round of 16 at Euro 2016, then in the semis en route to winning Euro 2020.
Go a wee bit further back and there have been other big tournament showdowns, ones Spain would rather ignore: Italy triumphed in the quarter-finals of the 1934 and 1994 World Cups, and knocked them out of the groups at Euro 80 and Euro 88. Spain however have the slight edge on the overall record, with 13 wins set against 11 losses in 40 meetings.
So Italy have had Spain’s number more often than not in the tournaments, but Spain have more all-time victories, plus they’ve thrashed Italy in a final. Good luck guessing who’s going to take control of Group B in Gelsenkirchen tonight, then. Kick-off is at 8pm. It’s on!