The tiny matter of the UEFA EURO 2020 opening game – at long last; this will undoubtedly be a tournament opener to remember. Italy is unbeaten in 27 games and will have home advantage at the Olimpico in Rome, while Turkey will be seeking to avoid defeat in their first EURO encounter for the fifth time.
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Turkey and Italy will kick off Euro 2020 on Friday in Rome’s Stadio Olimpico, a year later than expected because to the Covid-19 epidemic.
The start is projected to draw over 16,000 fans, with fans expecting to attend all 51 games across 11 countries this summer.
Italy has gone unbeaten in their last eight games without allowing a goal under Roberto Mancini.
Many people believe Turkey will throw a few surprises this summer.
Three members of Lille’s Ligue 1 title-winning team, attacker Burak Yilmaz, midfielder Yusuf Yazici, and defender Zeki Celik, are in their squad.
This will be Italy’s first major tournament match since the World Cup in 1990.
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NEWS FROM THE TEAM
Cenk Tosun, Turkey’s leading scorer in qualifying, will miss Euro 2020 due to a knee injury sustained in April.
Lille striker Yilmaz, 35, will lead the line, while winger Cengiz Under, who scored as a substitute in their last warm-up friendly, might make his debut.
It seems possible that Italy will choose the same lineup that defeated the Czech Republic in a friendly match last week.
Because Marco Verratti is still recovering from a knee injury, Manuel Locatelli is likely to return to the starting lineup in midfield.
Domenico Berardi has scored in each of his last four outings for the Azzurri and is anticipated to start ahead of Federico Chiesa on the right-wing
COMPARE THE FACTS
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Turkey
- Turkey has never beaten Italy, losing seven of their ten meetings, despite the fact that the two most recent meetings, friendly matches in 2002 and 2006, finished in 1-1 ties.
- The Azzurri won 2-1 in Arnhem thanks to goals from Antonio Conte and Pippo Inzaghi in their only match at a major event precisely 21 years ago (on June 11). The Turks were briefly leveled when Okan Buruk scored their first goal in a European Championship final.
- Turkey is a country in Europe.
- Turkey has lost its first game in each of its past four European Championship outings.
- They’ve scored 14 goals in six games this year, only failing to score once (in a 0-0 tie with Guinea in May).
- Turkey’s squad is the youngest at Euro 2020, with an average age of 24 days and 352 days.
- Senol Gunes’ side was the only team in Euro 2020 qualification to not surrender a single goal from open play, while their overall tally of three goals conceded was tied for second-lowest with Belgium.
- They’ve only preserved one clean sheet in their last ten games at either the World Cup or the European Championship, albeit it came in their most recent game, a 2-0 win against the Czech Republic in the Euro 2016 group stage.
Italy
- The Azzurri have gone 27 games without losing, the second-longest unbeaten streak in their history.
- They’ve won eight straight games, only three short of their all-time winning streak (set in 2019).
- In each of those triumphs, Roberto Mancini’s team has held a clean sheet and has gone 785 minutes (almost 13 hours) without conceding.
- The Italians have never scored more than twice in a single game at the European Championship, despite playing 38 games.
- They have been involved in the most goalless draws of the competition, with eight.