A game with Italy is always a special occasion in Spain. Don’t forget that until 2008 Italy were the opponents that the Spanish never wanted to face. Spanish children were frightened of the Italian national team, since Spain lost to Italians everywhere. After serial losses to Italy, Spanish authorities decided to play as many friendlies against Italy as they could, but the results didn’t get better until Iker Casillas won the penalty series in EURO 2008, breaking the curse. After that, Spain won three major tournaments in a row, including EURO 2012, where they beat Italy 4-0 in the final.
Here in France, Italy have defended superbly. In their opening two games, playing with their strongest line-up, played they conceded no goals. They played pretty boring against Belgium and Sweden, but the Juve defensive trio, plus Buffon in goal were impeccable.
Having said this, Alvaro Morata is a player in form right now and can be the player to break the Italian’s defensive resilience. He’s played with Barzagli, Chiellini and Bonucci at club level and knows their weaknesses. William Hill are offering a pretty good bet, Morata to score and Spain to win 1:0, 2:0 or 2:1 at 6/1, I like it. Not only is Morata a good finisher and already among the top scorers, He creates a lot for himself through good movement and hard work.
I also like Spain to have more corners than Italy on (-2) handicap. I expect Spain to possess the ball a lot more than the Italians, with the main action coming in Italy’s third of the field.
Enhanced odds! To get ‘Morata To Score & Spain To Win 1-0, 2-0 or 2-1’ @ 6/1 (was 11/2) click here.
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