Italy v Albania Betting Tips [15 June 2024]

Italy will start their European Championship defence against Group B outsiders Albania this Saturday. These two will also play Spain and Croatia later in this group. For the reigning champions, this seems like the easiest game they’ll have in the first round of the competition. Three points will therefore be the target for the Azzurri. Italy haven't had the smoothest of runs since their triumph at Euro 2020. However they come here in a much more stable form under Luciano Spaletti. A 1-0 win over Bosnia-Herzegovina in their last friendly match before the Euros marked a sixth unbeaten outing. They won four of those six matches and have only lost once in 11 matches. In four of their last five matches, Italy kept clean sheets. Being the reigning champions means they have the best run in the Euros, and they start this game unbeaten in seven matches in this competition.

Albania lost just once in their qualifying group and went on to finish top ahead of Czech Republic and Poland. They’ll rightly feel they’ve earned their place here but once again will be the underdogs in their group. Albania will be meeting Italy for the fifth time in history. In the earlier four meetings, they suffered straight defeats and only scored one goal. In terms of preparation for this competition, they had back to back wins against Azerbaijan and Liechtenstein. They scored three goals in each of those matches as they ended a run of four winless outings. However, this will be a tougher challenge and Albania must come out ready for it. They’ll particularly need their attack firing, having failed to score in three of the last five matches. This match marks just their fourth Euro game, having made their debut in 2016 and failed to make it past the group stage.

Albania are making a second stab at the European Championship and will no doubt be the underdogs in this group. Still, they’ll give it a shot despite the odds. Italy are coming into this game on the back of a good run, revitalized under Luciano Spaletti. They have the better head-to-head record in this fixture and it will be a major shock if they don’t collect three points here. Our prediction for Italy v Albania is for Italy to win.