Spain and Italy resist change in EURO 2024 battle for top spot | OneFootball

Italy are increasingly expected to field the same starting XI that beat Albania 2-1 when they go head-to-head with Spain in Thursday’s EURO 2024 showdown.

It kicks off in Gelsenkirchen on Thursday at 20.00 UK time (19.00 GMT).

As Albania and Croatia drew 2-2 this afternoon, it means whoever wins tomorrow will be guaranteed a place in the Round of 16 as group winners.

This puts even more pressure on the two teams and both could well make no changes from their opening fixtures.

It had been suggested Italy would at most replace Lorenzo Pellegrini with Bryan Cristante, moving Nicolò Barella to a more advanced trequartista role behind striker Gianluca Scamacca.

The latest reports from the training camp in Gelsenkirchen suggest that Luciano Spalletti is sticking with the same formation.

Luis de la Fuente could well do the same for Spain, who were thoroughly convincing in a 3-0 win over Croatia.

Alvaro Morata and Rodri have shaken off knocks, while Aymeric Laporte is only fit for the bench after missing that game entirely.

The coach had surprised originally by using Marc Cucurella instead of Alex Grimaldo, but it paid off.

Spain vs. Italy probable line-ups

Spain (4-3-3): Simon; Carvajal, Le Normand, Nacho, Cucurella; Pedri, Rodri, Fabian Ruiz; Yamal, Morata, Williams

Italy (4-2-3-1): Donnarumma; Di Lorenzo, Bastoni, Calafiori, Dimarco; Jorginho, Barella; Frattesi, Pellegrini, Chiesa; Scamacca

Ref: Vincic (SVN)