Tonight in the stadium of Italy’s runaway champions Juventus, the country’s international side will face off with Roy Hodgson’s England.
The team’s meeting at last summer’s World Cup was filled with exasperation for the Three Lions, with their players outmatched by the prolific passing of longtime Juventus star Andrea Pirlo.
PASS MAP: Andrea Pirlo has created one chance so far. 96% pass accuracy. Impressive as ever. #ITA pic.twitter.com/nogMaPlP4N
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) June 14, 2014
Goals from Marchisio and Balotelli gave a 2-1 advantage to the Azzurri. In the end, Italy were disappointed too - limping out of the group after losing to Uruguay and the unfancied Costa Rica.
Nevertheless, that win over England maintained an impressive head-to-head record. Italy have won four of the teams’ last five meetings including the match at Euro 2012, which ended in penalties.
Taking a look back at the results through the decades shows that Italy have been dominant for some time now.
England have never won against them in the finals of a major tournament and have not managed two victories in a row since the late 1940s.
Still, there are some upsides for England supporters.
Thanks to some comfortable victories over the years, including a 0-4 thrashing in 1948, England have scored more goals (31) against Italy than vice versa (29).
That 0-4 victory, like tonight’s, also took place in Turin.
A more recent triumph was the 1997 Tournoi de France, which saw Alan Shearer become the first captain to raise a trophy overseas after beating Italy 2-0 - although perhaps the only thing people remember from that tournament is Roberto Carlos’ freekick.
In terms of prospects for tonight: Roy Hodgson’s side have won their last five, while Italy have drawn two and won three although the calibre of both teams’ oppositions has not been great.
Tonight’s match will represent the first real test for both since the World Cup.
Luckily for England though that test will not include facing down the lustrous beard and exquisite passing of Pirlo. He sits the game out through injury.
