Italy face Albania tomorrow evening in their first fixture in group B of EURO 2024 at the BVB Stadion in Dortmund.

Luciano Spalletti’s side are looking to start the group strong in a bid to retain their title of European Champions after beating England on penalties in the final at Wembley in 2021.

How did you celebrate our #EURO2020 win? Let us know for a chance to be featured❗ #Azzurri 🏆 🇮🇹 #VivoAzzurro

— Italy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@Azzurri_En) July 23, 2021

The Azzurri go into the tournament in questionable scoring form after their two warm-up friendlies against Turkey, drawing 0-0, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, winning 1-0. However the Italians are undefeated in their past six matches in all competitions, and haven’t conceded a goal in 317 minutes of football, the last being in a 2-1 win against Venezuela back in March.

Our #EURO2024 prep ends with a W👌#ITABIH #Azzurri #VivoAzzurro pic.twitter.com/mYNNRrSBmI

— Italy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@Azzurri_En) June 9, 2024

Albania enter the tournament with a great couple of results in their pockets from the warm-up friendlies, after beating Liechtenstein and Azerbaijan 3-0 and 3-1 respectively.

FT | Full Time !
🇦🇱ALBANIA - 3 [Bajrami, Manaj, Laci]
🇦🇿AZERBAIJAN - 1

Homework done, not much to underline. Good performance by Bajrami and a decent one by Hoxha. Sad not to see Muci having any minute.#ALBAZE 🇦🇱🇦🇿 pic.twitter.com/rV5GPMokJY

— Albanian Football (@AlbaniaFooty) June 7, 2024

If the eagles can keep up this scoring form, they could be in for a chance to cause an upset or two in the group that has been coined this year’s group of death.

This is only the second time that Albania have qualified for a European Championship, the first being back in 2016 when they didn’t manage to escape their group; they will be hoping to better this this summer, and you’d expect the players to come with all their passion and heart.

Italy vs Albania Euro 2024 Team News

It is still up in the air as to who will start up front for the Azzurri out of Atalanta’s Gianluca Scamacca or Genoa’s Mateo Retegui. Scamacca scored 19 goals in 44 matches in all competitions this season, whilst Retegui scored seven in 29 games.

Scamacca 😁📸#UELfinal pic.twitter.com/oGfUs6L8cp

— UEFA Europa League (@EuropaLeague) May 27, 2024

The Italian squad are missing a few big names due to injury or being banned, such as Destiny Udogie, Nicolo Zaniolo and Sandro Tonali.

Atalanta captain Berat Djimsiti is expected to lead out the Eagles for their big start, having performed tremendously for La Dea this season, including a standout performance in the Europa League final, keeping a clean sheet against German Champions Bayer Leverkusen.

Djimsiti Europa league pics 🇦🇱 pic.twitter.com/G3Cynj01Ju

— Kovinho🇦🇱 (@CFC_Alb0) May 23, 2024

Italy vs Albania head-to-head results

The two sides have faced each other four times previously in all competitions, with Italy winning on all four occasions, the most recent clash being an international friendly back in 2022 in which Vincenzo Grifo scored a brace to help Italy to a 3-1 win.

The odds are massively in favour of Italy to win this tie, however with the current form of Albania and their rock solid defense, it might not be as straightforward for the Azzurri as you make think. Their attacking prowess could be held back by the authoritative figure of Berat Djimsiti and his partner Empoli’s Adrian Ismajli.

Italy vs Albania score prediction

Italy 1-0 Albania

There is a clear difference in quality between these two sides, but with Sylvinho’s defensive tactics and their recent results, I don’t think Italy will find it very easy to break down the Albanian backline. I do think, however, that the Albanian defenders will tire towards the end of the game, allowing for a spark of Italian quality to attack and snatch the three points late on.