Defending champion Italy will kick off its Euro 2024 campaign on Saturday (June 16, 12:30 AM IST) against Albania at the BVB Stadion Dortmund.
Luciano Spalletti’s side is coming up against a team filled with many familiar faces, as 10 of Albania’s squad play their club football in Italy, and they have a manager who also has a past in the country.
Italy is still sweating on the fitness of key midfielder Nicolo Barella, and the Inter Milan man may be rested by Spalletti rather than risk his absence in the later games, while Davide Frattesi returned to regular training.
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With Italy again struggling to find a goal scorer, Gianluca Scamacca looks set to be the player charged with finding the net, and against Albania he will come up against his Atalanta colleague Berat Djimsiti.
ITALY VS ALBANIA PREDICTED LINEUPSItaly predicted XI (3-4-3): Gianluigi Donnarumma, Matteo Darmian, Alessandro Buongiorno, Alessandro Bastoni, Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Bryan Cristante, Jorginho, Federico Dimarco, Davide Frattesi, Federico Chiesa, Gianluca Scamacca
Albania predicted XI (4-2-4): Etrit Berisha, Elseid Hysaj, Ardian Ismajli, Berat Djimsiti, Mario Mitaj, Kristjan Asllani, Ylber Ramadani, Jasir Asani, Nedim Bajrami, Taulant Seferi, Armando Broja
