Turkey v Italy betting tips: Azzurri back on the big stage
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Preview and odds for Friday’s match
Euro 2020 finally kicks off 12 months later than planned when Italy host Turkey at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.
Italy missed the last World Cup and have had to wait to make up for lost time but now head into the continental tournament with confidence and have been cut to 7/1 in the Euro 2020 winner odds.
Friday’s match is live on BBC One and kicks off at 8pm as we highlight a few potential Turkey v Italy betting tips.
Turkey v Italy match odds
Italy had the best qualifying record of all the teams at Euro 2020 so are understandably 4/7 favourites to make a winning start.
They won 10 out of 10 qualifiers in their group and scored 37 goals in the process, conceding just four, with Roberto Mancini overseeing an improvement in results which has continued since then.
Italy also won their Nations League group, ahead of the Netherlands and Poland, with an unbeaten record and have started World Cup qualifying with three successive 2-0 wins.
Warm-up wins against San Marino (7-0) and the Czech Republic (4-0) mean Italy have enjoyed eight straight victories all without conceding and have only let in two goals in 13 matches in the last year.
Turkey have never won their opening match in four previous European Championship appearances and are 13/2 to end that barren run while the draw is 11/4.
The Crescent Stars took four points off France in qualifying and are unbeaten in six games so deserve respect, with Senol Gunes in charge for a second time after leading Turkey to the semi-finals of the 2002 World Cup.
Turkey v Italy head-to-head
Turkey have never beaten Italy in 10 attempts but the two most recent meetings, in 2002 and 2006, ended in 1-1 draws and the same result can be backed at 6/1 in the Turkey v Italy odds.
Their last competitive meeting was at Euro 2000 when Italy edged a 2-1 win in what was again the opening game for both teams.
Antonio Conte’s opener was cancelled out by Okan Buruk but Filippo Inzaghi’s 70th-minute penalty proved to be the winner.
Both teams went on to qualify for the knockout stage but Turkey then lost to Portugal while Italy were beaten by France in the final.
Backing both teams to score has paid out in the last five meetings and odds of 27/20 are on offer for that run to continue.
Previous XI
Italy: Donnarumma, Chiellini, Spinazzola, Bonucci, Florenzi, Locatelli, Jorginho, Barella, Insigne, Berardi, Immobile.
Team news
Italy, who are already missing Marco Verratti, suffered another blow in the build-up to the game when Lorenzo Pellegrini was forced out with a muscle injury, and will be replaced by Gaetano Castrovilli.
Key battles
Opening matches at major tournaments can often be cagey encounters and Turkey will hope to keep it that way, especially in the absence of the injured Cenk Tosun – their top scorer in qualifying.
Burak Yilmaz is expected to lead the line and the veteran striker will be full of confidence after helping Lille win the Ligue 1 title ahead of PSG, with him 4/1 to breach a formidable Italian defence protected by Chelsea midfielder Jorginho.
Turkey kept eight clean sheets in qualifying thanks to a defence featuring Caglar Soyuncu of Leicester and Ozan Kabak, who joined Liverpool in January.
All odds and markets correct as of date of publication
