Italy vs Austria: preview and betting tips

Saturday’s programme of the European Championship semi-finals will feature a clash between the so far sovereign Italians and the newcomers in the knockout part, Austria. The favourite for this match is absolutely clear, let’s see why.

The Italians haven’t scored yet in this year’s championship and have absolutely destroyed the rest of Group A. With a score of 7: 0, coach Mancini’s charges have shown great strength and will definitely have a lot of motivation for the knockout part.

The team from the Apennine Peninsula also became the first team in history not to score during a Euro group.

Italy is also on the verge of two records. The first one they have had since the 1930s when, as now, they scored 30 wins in a row. Mancini’s boys are also attacking to equal the record for the most games in a row without a goal scored. Between 1972 and 1974 they played 12 games with zero at the back.

However, the Austrians will enter the match with absolutely nothing to lose. For our southern neighbours, this is their first ever progression to the eighth round. Moreover, play-off matches traditionally lack logic and there is no shortage of surprises at major tournaments.

Franco Foda, together with his assistants, has a very difficult task ahead of him to put together a team that can stop the Gli Azzurri. In a match against a tougher opponent, Austria could not cope with the Netherlands, but still managed to win against Ukraine and advance from the group with six points.

With many hours to go until kick-off, the jury is already out on who should advance to the quarter-finals. Nevertheless, we can say that this match could at least provide an interesting plot.