Italy v Croatia Betting Preview for Thursday Evening’s Euro 2012 Group C match from the Municipal Stadium, Poznan.
The whole game is being shown Live on BBC One High Definition, with a scheduled 17:00pm (BST) Kick Off Time.
Hello and thanks for stopping by to view our Italy v Croatia Betting Preview from Group C of Euro 2012, where we have provided you with the very latest team news, head to head statistics, best betting odds markets and our free betting tips predictions on the match.
Italy would of have been very pleased with their performance against world champions Spain in their opening game when managing to secure a 1-1 draw.
That result will surely have boosted the whole squad heading into this game against group leaders Croatia and if Italy can match their performance that they showed in their opening game, they will be very difficult to stop.
Croatia were comfortable 3-1 winners over Republic of Ireland in their opening match and never really looked like losing the game with Giovanni Trapattoni’s side deep defending.
That victory put Croatia top of the group and they will know that another victory in this game against Italy would see them progress through to the knock out stages of the tournament.
Italy v Croatia Team News
Italy Team News : Coach Claudio Prandelli will most likely stick to the 3-5-2 formation that worked so well against Spain in their opening game.
Balotelli will probably keep his place in the starting lineup, despite missing a golden opportunity in the first game and goal scorer Di Natale could also come into the side to replace Cassano having impressed when coming on from the bench.
Probable Lineup : Buffon, Bonucci, De Rossi, Chiellini, Maggio, T. Motta, Pirlo, Marchisio, Giaccherini, Balotelli, Di Natale.
Croatia Team News : Coach Slaven Bilić will probably adopt a more defensive strategy in this game going with a 4-5-1 formation and everton striker Jelavic looks the most likely player to be replaced by the extra midfielder.
Probable Lineup : Pletikosa, Srna, Corluka, Schildenfeld, Strinic, Rakitic, Vukojevic, Modric, Perisic, Dujmović, Mandzukic.
Italy v Croatia Head to Head Statistics
Thursday’s match from the Municiple Stadium will become the 7th meeting between the two nations over the years and all the results of those games can be seen in our head to head statistics table shown below.
- Italy Victories : 1
- Draws : 2
- Croatia Victories : 3
The last meeting between the two sides came during a friendly match at the Stadio Armando Picchi, Livorno back in 2006 where Croatia won 0-2. Eduardo Da Silva scoring the first goal of the game after 28 minutes.
