Euro 2020 Final Preview And Tips – Italy Or England To Lift The Trophy?

This Sunday, Italy and England will take to the turf at Wembley Stadium to contest the final of Euro 2020. After a year’s delay, the tournament has been a huge success with a number of exciting games, goals aplenty and arguably, the two best and most consistent teams in the tournament making it through to contest the final.

Kick off is 8pm UK time, and for those early birds, you can have the perfect preview if you are up at 1am as the final of the Copa America takes place in the early hours of Sunday morning in Brazil, with the host nation taking on their great rivals Argentina in what should be an equally enthralling encounter and you can get plenty of great odds on that game with bet365 Sport.

However for fans across Europe, it will be the big game in London that attracts most attention and if you are interested in having a flutter on the outcome of the game, then check out the Italy v England page at bet365 Sport which is your gateway to the best markets on the match.

If you are based in Pennsylvania in the United States, then BetRivers PA has a fantastic selection of bets on the game, as well as excellent soccer betting across multiple competitions from different regions of the world. You can also access the BetRivers site in plenty of other states too, making a great choice for people across the U.S.

Let’s now take a closer look at the game in a bit more detail, looking at how the two teams have worked their way through the Euro 2020 tournament, the history between the two teams and finally, how we see the game going on Sunday evening and who will lift the Henri Delaunay trophy.

Italy v England – Euro 2020 Final

History Of Italy V England

For Italy, this is their first major final since the 2012 European Championships, when the Azzuri were beaten 4-0 in the final by Spain. They have won the European Championships just the once, in 1968 on home soil, but they are four-time World Cup winners, last winning the trophy in Germany in 2006.

England’s finals appearances have been far less frequent. They have never reached the final of a European Championship tournament, their best performances being a third place finish in 1968 and a semifinal defeat at Euro 1996. England’s sole final appearance, and victory, came in 1966, and it has been 55 years since that famous 4-2 win over West Germany.

The two teams have, unsurprisingly, never met in a major tournament final before, but they have played four times in the European Championship and World Cup Finals. They first met in the Euros in 1980 in Italy, when Marco Tardelli’s late striker handed Italy a 1-0 win.

The next meeting was at the 1990 World Cup, also in Italy, in the third-placed playoff game, where Italy emerged as the 2-1 winners. Roberto Baggio and Salvatore Schillachi scoring either side of David Platt’s goal for England.

22 years later, the teams met in the quarterfinals of the European Championship and an entertaining game finished in a 0-0 draw after extra time, with Italy going on to win 4-2 on penalties after Ashley Young and Ashley Cole missed spot kicks for England.

Then the teams met in the 2014 World Cup Finals in Brazil, playing in the jungle city of Manaus, Italy won yet again thanks to goals from Claudio Marchisio and Mario Balotelli either side of Daniel Sturridge’s strike for England.

The last four games between the teams have seen one win apiece, with two draws in the two most recent encounters, the last of those being a 1-1 draw at Wembley in March 2018.

Current Form – Italy

Italy are on a stunning run of form at the moment having remained unbeaten in their last 34 games, a new record for an Italian national team.

They progressed from their group very easily, winning their two opening games against Turkey and Switzerland by the same 3-0 scoreline. They then rested some key players but still emerged with a 1-0 win over Wales to top the group with maximum points and without conceding a goal.

However, after moving away from Rome, Italy have looked less convincing. An extra time win over Austria wasn’t convincing but they did play well in beating the much-fancied Belgium team 2-1. However, they were second-best against Spain in the semifinals for much of the game and had just 29% of possession in that game, yet still emerged with the win on penalties.

Manager Roberto Mancini seems pretty well set on what is his strongest team and it is likely that he is not going to deviate from that selection for the final. Leonardo Spinazzola, who was a real threat in the early stages of the tournament will miss out with a nasty Achilles injury. Chelsea’s Emerson is set to deputise.

Probable Line Up – Italy – (4-3-3) – Donnarumma, Di Lorenzo, Bonucci, Chiellini, Emerson, Barella, Jorginho, Verratti, Chiesa, Immobile, Insigne.

Current Form – England

Since losing to Belgium in November 2020, England have played 12 games, winning 11 and drawing one. They have conceded just two goals in those games, which is highly impressive.

England began Euro 2020 somewhat slowly with a narrow 1-0 win over Croatia before a 0-0 draw with Scotland, for which they were heavily criticised for. They then beat the Czech Republic 1-0 to ensure they topped Group D.

That set up a crucial Round of 16 tie with Germany, so often a nightmare draw for England in big tournaments, but this time England achieved the win, beating Germany 2-0 to progress into the quarterfinals. There they despatched Ukraine 4-0 in Rome in clinical fashion.

Denmark lay in wait in the semifinal and despite going a goal down to their first goal conceded in the tournament, England struck back to level and then snatch the win in extra time to claim a spot in the final.

Gareth Southgate has generally kept faith with most of his team throughout the tournament but he has shown a tendency to pick players for specific games. That said, I think he will keep faith with the team that started the semi final with Denmark.

Probable Line Up – England – (4-2-3-1) – Pickford, Walker, Shaw, Maguire, Stones, Phillips, Rice, Mount, Saka, Sterling, Kane

Euro 2020 Final Tips

A look at the history of the two teams suggests that Italy tend to come out on top in the biggest games between the two teams. Indeed, England have never beaten Italy in a major tournament and their biggest win was probably a World Cup Qualifying win in 1977, which even then proved fruitless as England failed to qualify anyway.

Italy will be quietly confident ahead of this game as a result, but if there is one thing that England have done under Gareth Southgate, is to successively end these kinds of runs.

It began with a win on penalties in the World Cup against Colombia, followed by a semifinal at that tournament. They reached the semifinals again in the Nations League before beating Germany, so often their nemesis, in the Round of 16 here. They then ended their semi-final jinx with that win over Denmark.

Could they do likewise with their record against Italy? I think they can.

As such, I am backing England to win the game (13/8) and I think 2-1 is a good bet for the Correct Score (11/1). Finally, back Harry Kane to score any time at 8/5.