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Italy vs Ukraine: Head to head statistics
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Italy vs Ukraine match preview
Italy have been far from impressive in Euro 2024 qualifying so far, making this a vitally important clash in Milan.
On Saturday night, Luciano Spalletti’s tenure began with an underwhelming 1-1 draw against Italy’s kryptonite North Macedonia in Skopje.
Ciro Immobile’s slow-motion header had broken the deadlock at Toše Proeski Arena shortly after half time, only for the home side to equalise via a superb free-kick with just nine minutes to play.
So, Gli Azzurri sit third in Group C, with just four points to their name, beaten when England visited Naples on matchday one, before a scrappy 2-0 victory in Malta three days later.
Of course, Italy’s involvement in June’s UEFA Nations League Finals means they do have at least one game in hand on everyone else in this group.
But, given that the reigning European Champions have missed out on back-to-back World Cups, their supporters are fully aware that qualifying for tournaments is far from a formality.
At the weekend, the Blue and Yellows earned a valuable 1-1 draw against run-away group leaders England in Wrocław, taking the lead through Oleksandr Zinchenko’s neat finish.
Serhiy Rebrov’s tenure had began with back-to-back wins in June, coming from 2-0 down to defeat North Macedonia 3-2 on the road, before a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Malta in Trnava.
In spite of the ongoing Russian invasion, Ukraine are in a decent position as they seek to qualify for a fourth successive European Championships, guaranteed a play-off place if required.
Regardless of that, even a draw in this clash at San Siro would leave Ukraine well-placed to remain second in this group, with the return fixture against the Italians on the last matchday in November likely to prove decisive.
Italy have won all five previous competitive meetings with Ukraine, albeit the most-recent of these came 16 years ago.
Here, Gli Azzurri are under enormous pressure to pick up three points, so will the huge crowd inside Stadio Giuseppe Meazza have a victory to celebrate?
Italy team news
Leonardo Bonucci, Francesco Acerbi, Federico Chiesa, Jorginho and Marco Verratti are all not in the squad, the latter due to the fact he’s set to move to Qatar.
Up front, Ciro Immobile will captain his country, having nodded home his 17th international goal on Saturday.
Meantime, Gianluigi Donnarumma will continue in goal, having started 36 competitive internationals in a row, a sequence that dates back to November 2019.
Sandro Tonali and Bryan Cristante are set to remain alongside Nicolò Barella in Luciano Spalletti’s new-look midfield.
Ukraine team news
Oleksandr Zinchenko bagged his ninth goal for Ukraine at the weekend, his first for almost two years, and will continue at the base of midfield, alongside captain Taras Stepanenko.
Further forward, Mykhailo Mudryk is still searching for his first-ever senior international goal, and San Siro would hardly be a grander stage at which to break the duck.
Heorhiy Bushchan will get the nod in goal, chosen over Andriy Lunin, while Illya Zabarnyi of Bournemouth and Everton’s Vitalii Mykolenko will feature in defence.
Euro 2024 qualifying Group C table
Euro 2024 qualifying Group C results and fixtures
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