Euro 2020 boils down to a heavyweight showdown between continental giants

After a glorious tournament of football across the continent, Euro 2020 comes down to Sunday’s showdown—a titanic battle between giants Italy and England.

The two heavyweights have been the outstanding teams in the tournament, with the Azzurri starting strongly while the Three Lions have grown into the competition and have momentum on their side heading into the final.

One of these two will be left disappointed come full-time on Sunday, but will it be England or Italy who clinch the grandest prize in European football?

Italy vs England: Team news

Gareth Southgate, speaking after the Three Lions’ semi-final victory over Denmark, expressed confidence that there would be no residual effects from that testing encounter.

“It seems like everybody’s come through the game OK in terms of injuries,” he told journalists after the encounter.

However, he will still have some difficult selection decisions to make across his team where, given Italy’s quality going forward, he may be tempted to revert to a back five—drafting in either Kieran Trippier or Reece James to play alongside Kyle Walker.

Further up the field, Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling are sure of their starting berths, but who will play in support?

Southgate may opt to retain faith in Bukayo Saka, who started the semi, while Mason Mount, Jack Grealish, Jadon Sancho and Phil Foden will all be pushing for starts.

Left-back Leonardo Spinazzola is a big loss for Italy following the Achilles tear he suffered in their quarter-final victory over Belgium.

In his absence, Giovanni Di Lorenzo started at full-back and appears on course to deputise again.

Further up the field, Roberto Mancini, like Southgate, has ample options, even if the likes of Manuel Locatelli, Lorenzo Insigne, Ciro Immobile, Nicolo Barella Matteo Pessino and Domenico Berardi struggled to ignite against Spain.

Italy vs England: Key facts & stats

While both of these two are former World Cup winners, Italy’s success in major tournaments dwarves that of their rivals on Sunday.

While Italy have featured in 10 major finals—four Euros and six World Cups—this is only the second final in England’s history and their first since 1966.

They have never before reached the finals of the European Championships and will aim to end 55 years without silverware this weekend.

Encouragingly for the Three Lions, only three of the previous 12 debuting finalists lost out in the final itself—Portugal in 2004 being the most recent—although of concern to the last two hosts to reach the final (France and Portugal) were both defeated.

Italy vs England: Predictions

With momentum and home advantage on their side, England are approaching this final in fine fettle.

They demonstrated, after falling behind against Denmark, that they can combat adversity and still come out the other side, and that come-from-behind victory should serve them well against Italy.

Admittedly, this Azzurri side has been excellent at the tournament so far, but with Southgate’s sturdy defence and wealth of attacking options, football’s surely coming home…isn’t it!?

Prediction: Italy 1 – 1 England (England win after extra time)

source: goal