Another mouth-watering tie is going to take place in this tournament and after overcoming holders Portugal in their round of 16 tie Belgium will be looking to continue their hot winning streak when they take Italy on.
Italy just about came through their round of 16 tie and got away with some VAR calls that would have seen them down more goals than what they should have been.
Neither side has a home advantage though as the tie is taking place in the Allianz Arena in Munich.
- Head to head:
In their last five previous meetings, Italy have W3, L2 and have scored nine goals and conceded seven along the way.
- Odds:
Belgium are 3/40 to win the game and Italy are 2/30 to win the game.
- Previous defensive record:
Belgium kept a clean sheet in their 1-0 win over holders Portugal when they won 1-0. Italy had a tougher time against Austria though and managed to come through as 2-1 winners as it went to extra time after a 0-0 draw in normal time.
- Players to watch:
Thorgan Hazard (Belgium) now has four goals and two assists in his last seven starts. While Italy’s Ciro Immobile will be looking to add to his two goals and one assist at Euro 2020 so far.
- Team News:
Timothy Castagne (face injury) Nacer Chadli (personal reasons) Simon Mignolet (Injury) (Belgium) are all out and Kevin De Bruyne and Eden Hazard (Belgium) are doubts with an ankle and thigh injury. Whereas Alessandro Florenzi is out with a calf injury and Giorgio Chiellini is a doubt with a muscle injury for Italy.
Misses next match if booked: Alderweireld, T. Hazard, Vermaelen (Belgium)
Misses next match if booked: Barella, Di Lorenzo, Pessina (Italy)
- Predicted Line-ups:
Belgium possible line-up: Courtois; Alderweireld, Vermaelen, Vertonghen; T. Hazard, Witsel, Tielemans, Meunier; E. Hazard/Mertens, Lukaku, Carrasco/De Bruyne
Italy possible line-up: Donnarumma; Di Lorenzo, Bonucci, Chiellini, Spinazzola; Barella, Jorginho, Verratti; Chiesa, Immobile, Insigne
Team view:
Roberto Martínez, Belgium coach: “Italy will attack from the very first second; they will be very structured and dynamic. Every player knows his role. The game against Portugal was a game that could have been played a lot further down the line; usually players don’t play these physical and intense games at this stage of the tournament. Luckily, we have enough days to recover and prepare.”
Thorgan Hazard, Belgium midfielder: “Italy will be the toughest opponent we’ve met so far. They’ve had a good run of wins and it will be a nice challenge for us to end that sequence. Their style may suit us more than Portugal. They are enterprising so we may be able to profit from the open spaces, but it definitely won’t be any easier.”
Last six form guide:
Belgium: WWWWWD
Italy: WWWWWW
A professional performance against current holders Portugal saw Belgium go through with a narrow 1-0 win but it could come at a cost given the number of injuries they looked to have picked up.
Arriving in their fourth successive European Championship quarter-final Italy will be aiming to progress after an impressive group stage campaign.
Belgium will need to push aside the injuries if they are to beat Italy to be on course to try and win their first title in this tournament. But they will take confidence from the fact that they have won four games in a single European Championship finals for the first time.
Italy scraped through after extra time but conceded for the first time in this tournament after a 0-0 draw in normal time. The normal time clean sheet took Italy’s current streak to 12 but Austria have shown that they can finally be broken down albeit in extra time, where they did look rather vulnerable for most of the game.
Belgium will also look to capitalize on their winning streak even more after having lost at the quarter-finals of the 2014 World Cup and Euro 2016 and will look to the lucky omen that has seen four of the previous five nations that have knocked out the existing European champions go on to lift the trophy.
