Italy – Netherlands

Italy host Netherlands at the Gewiss Stadium in Bergamo in a match from the Nations League. This must be a pure football classic between these two huge forces in European football. Let’s take a look at it.

What’s the current situation in League A’s Group 1? The Italian team is leading the group with 5 points won, enjoying a slight one point advantage in front of Netherlands and Poland. Bosnia-Herzegovina are 4th in the group with 2 points won after three matches played.

Few days ago Italy made their second draw in the group. The Azzurri faced Poland in Gdansk and the match ended without any goals scored – 0-0. This was not the result the manager Roberto Mancini hoped for but it came against a very strong Polish side.

Mancini used his favourite 4-3-3 formation against Poland. He put Andrea Belotti upfront while Chiesa and Pellegrini supported him. In the second half he put Kean and Berardi on the pitch, but no goals were scored.

Netherlands are still without a win since the arrival of the new head coach Frank de Boer. On Sunday the Dutch side traveled to face Bosnia-Herzegovina, but no goals were scored there, too. De Boer’s 4-2-3-1 formation didn’t give any result as well.

After the game Frank de Boer said he’s not worried about the latest results of his team. The manager said he’d need more time in order to leave his mark and for the players to understand his ideas.

Because of these two teams’ current shape, most probably Italy are a very slight favourite against Netherlands. The Dutch team is in a transition period at the moment while Italy are developing well under the management of Roberto Mancini. But football is full of surprises, so nothing is guaranteed here.