Italy will conclude their preparations for Euro 2024 with a friendly fixture against Bosnia-Herzegovina at the Stadio Carlo Castellani on Sunday.
While the Azzurri are looking to extend their unbeaten run to six matches, the Dragons are bidding to end a five-game losing streak dating back to October last year.
Match preview
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Since succeeding Euro 2020-winning manager Roberto Mancini in September last year, Luciano Spalletti has made a promising start to life as Italy boss, winning five and drawing three of his first nine matches in charge across all competitions.
Ranked ninth in the world by FIFA, Italy are yet to taste defeat in 2024, beginning the year with successive friendly wins over South American duo Venezuela and Ecuador in March, but they were unable to come out on top in a goalless stalemate with Turkey at Stadio Renato Dall'Ara on Tuesday.
However, there were positives to take from the Azzurri's in-house warm-up clash against their Under-20s side the following day, with Gianluca Scamacca, Giacomo Raspadori and Stephan El Shaarawy all on the scoresheet in a 3-1 win.
Spalletti has been 'satisfied' with Italy's preparations for the defence of their European crown thus far and has talked up his "great group" of players ahead of Sunday's encounter with Bosnia, whom they have beaten in three of their previous four meetings.
Italy will be keen to return to winning ways before travelling to Germany for their opening Euro 2024 Group B fixture against Albania on June 15, with challenging contests against Spain and Croatia to follow.
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Unlike Italy, Bosnia will not be competing at a major tournament this summer after they failed to qualify for Euro 2024, finishing fifth in a six-team Group J.
The Dragons came out on top in only three of their 10 qualification matches, including two wins over European minnows Liechtenstein, and they ended the group phase 13 points behind the top two. However, they were given a qualification lifeline via their UEFA Nations League performance.
Indeed, Bosnia entered the Euro 2024 playoffs earlier this year, but they were beaten 2-1 in a semi-final clash against Ukraine, a result that led to the departure of head coach Savo Milosevic who took charge of just five games over a six-month period - losing four.
Sergej Barbarez has since taken the reins and was on the touchline for Bosnia's 3-0 friendly defeat to England at Wembley Stadium on Monday. The 52-year-old was "proud" of his team's performance even though they failed to register a single shot on target and had just 29% possession throughout the 90 minutes.
Bosnia, ranked 74th in the world by FIFA, are now bidding to win their first-ever match against Italy and claim their first friendly victory away from home since a 3-1 success over South Korea back in June 2018.
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Spalletti officially confirmed his final 26-man squad for Euro 2024 on Thursday and Ivan Provedel, Samuele Ricci and Riccardo Orsolini are the three players who have failed to make the cut, meaning that they will not be involved on Sunday.
Goalkeeper Alex Meret and midfielder Nicolo Barella have both emerged as injury doubts and are unlikely to be risked against Bosnia. Both players missed the draw with Turkey, with Meret sustaining a muscle injury during the warm-up.
Italy captain Gianluigi Donnarumma could return between the sticks at the expense of Guglielmo Vicario, who was handed just his second cap in midweek, while the absence of Orsolini will likely see Raspadori, El Shaarawy and Mattia Zaccagni all battle for a place in attack.
As for Bosnia, Nikola Vasilj, Stjepan Radeljic and Edin Dzeko - the nation's all-time top scorer (65 goals) and leading appearance-maker (134 caps) - have all been ruled out through injury.
Vasilj played against England but has since picked up an injury in training, so either Kenan Piric or uncapped Osman Hadzikic is set to start in goal.
Ermedin Demirovic contributed to 25 goals (15 goals, 10 assists) in 33 Bundesliga games for Augsburg last season, but he has only netted one goal in 25 international games for Bosnia; he is expected to continue up front, though.
Italy possible starting lineup:
Donnarumma; Di Lorenzo, Mancini, Bastoni, Dimarco; Cristante, Jorginho; Raspadori, Pellegrini, Chiesa; Scamacca
Bosnia-Herzegovina possible starting lineup:
Piric; Radeljic, Katic, Ahmedhodzic, Hadzikadunic, Gazibegovic; Gigovoc, Krunic, Tahirovic, Hajradinovic; Demirovic
We say: Italy 2-0 Bosnia-Herzegovina
Italy have not scored more than one goal in in five of their last six internationals, but they will fancy their chances of success in the final third against a Bosnia outfit who have conceded 16 goals in their last five matches, shipping at least two goals on each occasion.
Seeking to enter Euro 2024 on a positive note, the Azzurri should have few problems securing a routine victory in front of their home supporters.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Oliver Thomas
