It’s all set for the 2023 edition of the UEFA Nations League final four. In addition to Roberto Mancini’s, Italy, Croatia, Spain and the Netherlands compete for the trophy. On Wednesday, Croatia eliminated the Netherlands 4-2. The competition is also relevant to the 2024 European Championship qualifiers: three of the 24 spots will be determined by play-offs via the 2022-23 UEFA Nations League: the group winners of competitions A, B and C, but if already qualified, will they are replaced by the next best-placed team in their league. The winning team of this semi-final will compete against the winner of the other Croatia on Sunday 18 June. You need to know this:
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Date: Thursday 15 June | Time: 2:45 p.m. ET
Place: De Grolsch Veste — Enschede, The Netherlands
TV: Fox Sports 2 | Live stream: fuboTV (Get access now)
Chances: SPA +128; Sign +205; ITA +240 (via Caesars Sportsbook)
What to know
- Italy have won just one of their last ten games against Spain: a 2-0 victory, on June 27, 2016, in the round of 16 of Euro 2016, with Antonio Conte as coach.
- Spain won their last game against Italy 2-1 in the semi-finals of the Nations League on October 6, 2021. Only once did La Roja have two successes in a row against the Azzurri, between 1971 and 1978 (two friendlies in that case).
- Italy could make it to the Nations League final for the first time, while Spain already played in the final in the previous edition when it lost 1-2 to France on October 10, 2021.
- Of the teams in League A of this edition of the Nations League, no national team has more clean sheets than Italy and Spain, both three, equal to Portugal and Hungary.
- Spain is the national team with the highest possession, 70.8%, in this edition of the Nations League; Italy instead had a 42.3% possession.
- Mateo Retegui scored in both of his first two caps for Italy; the last player to score in all of his first three appearances for the Azzurri was Giorgio Chinaglia in 1972.
- No Italian player has scored more goals than Nicolò Barella led by Roberto Mancini, eight goals, comparable to Ciro Immobile and Andrea Belotti.
Prediction
Despite the disappointing 2022 World Cup, Spain is in much better shape and should qualify for the Nations League final. Choose: Spain 2, Italy 1.