Italy v Austria Cheat Sheet
After topping Group A with nine points, Italy became the first side in European Championship history to win all three group stage matches without conceding a solitary goal. Roberto Mancini’s men now face Austria in the last 16.
Wins over Ukraine and North Macedonia led to a second place finish in Group A for the Austrians who can be backed at 7/2 with Betfair to advance to the quarter finals. Italy are the clear favourites to progress in the tournament priced at 1/5 with most firms.
Giorgio Chiellini is a doubt for Saturday’s match after missing their final group game with a hamstring injury. Alessandro Bastani or Francesco Acerbi will come in if the Juventus central defender does not make it, while Roberto Mancini will most likely start Macro Verratti which would mean that either Nicolo Barella or Manuel Locatelli misses out on a place in the starting XI.
Stand Out Stats
There’s a strong likelihood that Domenico Beradi will start as part of a front-three for Italy on Saturday alongside Ciro Immobile and Lorenzo Insigne. The Sassuolo attacker has played two games so far for the Italians at this tournament and registered four shots against Turkey and three against Switzerland. With this in mind we’d be happy to include him to have 3+ shots in our bet builders considering the drastically shorter prices on Insigne and Immobile.
Marcel Sabitzer averaged 2.3 shots a game for Red Bull Leipzig last season and has continued to be a prominent shooter for his country at this summer’s Euros. No player for Austria has registered more shots at this tournament than Sabitzer and if we were to side with any of their players in the shots market, it would be the 27-year-old.
One player who has a proven appetite for picking up yellow cards is Jorginho of Italy and Chelsea. The defensive midfielder picked up 10 yellow cards in the 2019/2020 season for Chelsea last season, with four in eight games in the Blues’ Champions League matches. No player has committed more fouls for Italy so far at the Euros than Jorginho and at 5/1 or bigger we’d be happy to have him on-side for a booking.
The game can be seen live on ITV kicking off at 8pm and if you are having a bet on the game, please do so in a responsible manner.
