- Italy to win and under 2.5 goals scored - 2/1 with bet365
- Exactly six corners in the match - 9/1 with bet365
Saturday sees three Euro 2024 matches take place and the third of those is the clash between Italy and Albania.
After breaking English hearts at Wembley three years ago, Italy get their tournament defence underway on Saturday in Dortmund in the second game of Group B, arguably the ‘group of death’ at this year’s tournament with Spain and Croatia the other two sides expecting to qualify.
We’ve looked at some of the best football betting offers, odds and markets from our range of football betting sites to provide you with Italy v Albania betting tips.
Italy vs Albania Euro 2024 Betting Tips
Italy v Albania Odds
- Italy to win odds - 2/5
- Draw odds - 7/2
- Albania to win odds - 17/2
Odds courtesy of Betfred, correct at the time of publication
Italy v Albania Match Preview
Holders In Action
Although England supporters are trying to erase the Euro 2020 final from their memories, the same cannot be said for their Italian counterparts, and after The Azzurri stopped football from fully coming home, it is they who play the role of trophy holders for this summer’s European Championships.
Then again, those highs of three summers previous are memories that Italy’s tifosi are desperately clinging on to and after the embarrassment of subsequently missing out on World Cup qualification in Qatar, there has been an element of wilderness for this nation of football heritage.
Not only has there been wilderness, but it has also been all change from a managerial standpoint and although Roberto Mancini was the man who oversaw the smash and grab at Wembley in 2021, he has since joined the list of the figures who have been swayed by Saudi oil money.
For Mancini now read Luciano Spaletti and although the former Napoli manager was meant to simply be having a sabbatical from the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium, that sabbatical has taken him to international football on a permanent basis instead.
While on the basis of Italy’s last two friendlies outings, their preparations for this tournament have not pulled much in the way of trees and after being held to a goalless draw at home to Turkey, they then edged past Bosnia by a single goal just a few days later.
A pair of results that did little to get the pulses racing and do not offer too much insight before Saturday’s Group B meeting with Albania – a group that also includes Croatia and Spain and is rightfully labelled as this tournament’s ‘Group of Death’
Group B may be the toughest of the six, but with as many of three teams being able to reach the Round of 16, there may only be one casualty from it and when you look at the construction of this four-team mini-league, it is Albania who start proceedings on life support.
However, this Albanian side can also look at the group stage as a trio of free hits, the pressure will be off the pride of Tirana and with a former Brazilian international at the managerial helm, there could be an element of samba football on show.
That former international is Sylvinho and in Albania’s own preparations before the tournament, he has managed to navigate past Liechtenstein and Azerbaijan. Admittedly not the toughest opposition but two confidence-boosting victories all the same.
But now it is time for the first of my two tips and with Italy lacking firepower in their friendlies, I think they will only manage to grind out a win in this Group B. Then again, three points are three points and a win for Spaletti’s men with under 2.5 goals in total is priced at 2/1.
In addition to this, with not a lot of goals, the logic is not a lot of chances either. With this in mind, I am opting for the corner market and with exactly six in total being priced at 9/1, this is an interesting side bet for Saturday’s game in Dortmund.
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