Italy and Malta will continue their respective Euro 2016 qualification campaigns with a Group H match in Florence on Thursday evening.

Italy currently sit second behind the group leaders Croatia after six matches, but Malta are bottom after losing five of their six fixtures thus far.

Italy

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Having gone out in the group stages of the 2014 World Cup, Euro 2016 provides Italy with the chance to return to former glories, if they can indeed secure qualification from Group H.

The four-time World Cup winners failed to progress from the groups in Brazil last summer and they also did not make it past that particular stage in 2010, when they were defending the trophy. They have a strong recent European Championship record, however, and were runners-up in the last edition of the tournament in 2012 – losing to Spain in the final.

In fact, Italy have finished second in two of the last four editions of the tournament, while they also made the quarter-finals in 2008. Antonio Conte's side cannot afford to look ahead to next summer just yet, however, as they attempt to secure qualification from their section.

As it stands, the Blues sit second in Group H on 12 points – three points behind the leaders Croatia and two points ahead of third-place Norway after six matches. Italy opened their qualification campaign with three straight wins over Norway, Azerbaijan and Malta and did not concede a single goal in the process.

They have drawn each of their last three against Croatia (home and away) and Bulgaria, however, which has seen them drop into second position in the section. Conte's side have two home games this month, however, as they prepare to face Bulgaria on Sunday after hosting Malta. Back-to-back victories would place Italy in a strong position ahead of their final two fixtures.

Italy will enter this match off the back of a 1-0 defeat to Portugal in a friendly in June, however, which means that they are four games without a win in all competitions. That said, they have not lost a European qualifier at home since September 1999, when they were beaten 3-2 by Denmark.

Recent form: WWWDDD
Recent form (all competitions): DWDDDL

Malta

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Malta are still looking for their first Group H victory, while they have only scored one goal in their six matches in this section – losing the other five without scoring. Those are not the kind of statistics that will give them confidence ahead of a clash with their close rivals.

Pietro Ghedin's side are without a win in ten competitive fixtures since a 1-0 World Cup qualification victory over Almeria in June 2013 and bar a miracle of the highest order, will once again fail to qualify for a major tournament.

As it stands, the Reds are ranked 158th in the FIFA standings, while they have never qualified for a major international tournament. Qualification for Euro 2012 saw Malta finish bottom of their section on one point and one victory this time around would be seen as a success.

They opened their 2016 qualification campaign with a 2-0 defeat to Croatia back in September 2014, before losing 3-0 at home to Norway one month later. Italy then recorded a 1-0 win at the Ta'Qali National Stadium, but Malta did pick up a surprise point away to Bulgaria last November.

Since then, Ghedin's team have lost 2-0 to Azerbaijan and 1-0 at home to Bulgaria, which has left them bottom of Group H – three points behind fifth-place Azerbaijan and 11 points off their opponents on Thursday evening. That said, Malta did beat Lithuania 2-0 in a friendly in June.

Looking ahead, Malta will host fellow Group H strugglers Azerbaijan on September 6, before facing Norway and Croatia next month. One win from their four remaining fixtures would at least give the supporters something to cheer about ahead of qualification for the 2018 World Cup.

Recent form: LLLDLL
Recent form (all competitions): LDLLWL

Team News

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Sebastian Giovinco's performances for Toronto FC have earned him a recall to the Italy squad, but the attacker's involvement is in doubt after picking up an injury at the weekend.

Veteran midfielder Andrea Pirlo was also included by Conte, while Manchester United's full-back Matteo Darmian and Southampton's Graziano Pelle also made the cut, but Stefano Sturaro misses out through suspension.

Mario Balotelli will not be involved despite his recent move to AC Milan and nine of the 28 players selected by Conte are based outside of Italy.

A strong XI is expected to include the likes of Giorgio Chiellini, Marco Verratti and Daniele de Rossi, while Monaco's Stephan El Shaarawy will also be hoping for a spot in the team.

As for Malta, Ghedin somewhat surprisingly included 24-year-old defender Alex Cini in his selection after an impressive start to the season for Pembroke Athleta.

Record goal-scorer Michael Mifsud is once again expected to lead the line for the Reds, while Clayton Failla, scorer of Malta's only Group H goal thus far, and Roderick Briffa will provide experience for the visitors.

Italy possible starting lineup:
Buffon; Darmian, Chiellini, Bonucci, Pasqual; De Rossi, Verratti, Pirlo; El Shaarawy, Pelle, Zaza

Malta possible starting lineup:
Haber; Cini, Agius, Failla, Z Muscat; Briffa, Cohen, Fenech, Kristensen; Mifsud, Schembri

Head To Head

Italy have won all seven of their international games against Malta – scoring 20 times in the process and conceding just twice.

As mentioned, the pair met in Malta last October in the reverse group match and Southampton's Pelle scored the only goal of the match for the Italians. The result was all the more impressive for Malta when considering that their captain Mifsud was sent off in the 28th minute.

The two countries also met during qualification for the 2014 World Cup and Italy won both matches 2-0.

We say: Italy 2-0 Malta

Malta might have lost five of their six Group H matches, but they have not really been blown away in terms of big scorelines. Italy will rightly enter as the favourites, however, and should have enough to claim three comfortable points.

Written by
Matt Law

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