Euro 2020
2021-06-11 - Turkey vs Italy
A Sports Betting Pick by ArmchairPunter
Football : Euro 2020 - Group A
Venue : Stadio Olimpico
Friday 11th June 2021, 2000hrs
The curtain-raiser for the delayed Euro 2020 features the Group A clash between Turkey and Italy at the Stadio Olimpico in what is essentially a home fixture for the Italians as they seek to make a winning start to their Euro campaign.
Looking at Turkey first, and they finished just two points behind Group H winners, France, and in turn beat Iceland to the all-important 2nd place to qualify for the Euro 2020 finals, putting in a solid campaign.
Ironically, Iceland were the only team to beat Turkey during the group qualifying process but notable victories over Albania home and away and most impressive of all, a 2-0 home win against France, helped the Turks to this year’s Euro finals.
However, the European Championships hasn’t been a successful hunting ground for Turkey as they’ve managed to win just five of their 15 matches played at this level, while losing nine of these games and they’ve never beaten Italy in any of their previous eight meetings, losing five of these encounters.
Italy breezed through the European Championship qualifying stages, winning Group J at a canter and ending the group phase with an impressive 100% winning record with Belgium being the only other nation to achieve that feat also.
Notable home and away wins collected against Bosnia-Herzegovina, Finland and Greece should give Italy plenty of confidence ahead of this Euro 2020 opener against Turkey, as too their amazing 27-match unbeaten sequence in all competitions.
Since Italian manager, Roberto Mancini, took over the reigns of the national team, the Azzurri have suffered just two defeats in 32 matches under the former Manchester City and Inter Milan boss since May 2018, keeping a total of 19 clean sheets in the process.
The Italian attacking personnel also include a number of dangerous goalscoring threats in the shape of Immobile, Insigne, Berardi and Belotti, who between them scored a total of 69 goals between them in this season’s Serie A.
The Betting Verdict
Turkey produced a solid qualifying campaign but may come undone against a quality Italy outfit who have grown immensely under Mancini.
The Pick :
Turkey 0-1 Italy
FIXED ODDS BETTING TIP :
Take Italy to win at best odds of 1.54 at Dafabet
