North Macedonia vs Italy prediction: EUROPE: Euro – Qualification betting tips on match 2023-09-08 18:45.
North Macedonia’s players and staff have had nearly three months to stew on their heaviest ever international defeat (7-0 v England), the first time they’d ever conceded seven goals in a single match. Blagoja Milevski’s men now have work to do if they’re to get their UEFA European Championship qualifying (ECQ) campaign back on track, with back-to-back defeats leaving them three points adrift of Group C’s top-two.
To do that, the Lynxes will need to avoid losing three consecutive ECQ matches for the first time since 2015, a challenging task against an Italy side that outrank them by 60 places (FIFA). This is a fixture that certainly brings back happy memories for North Macedonia though, who earned arguably their most famous victory to date by dumping Italy out of FIFA World Cup qualifying with a 1-0 win in 2022.
Italy suffered that defeat under Roberto Mancini’s leadership, but after guiding the Azzurri to a third place finish in the Nations League, he’s since departed and been replaced by Luciano Spalletti, the coach who guided Napoli to their first Serie A title in 33 years. After a mixed start to their ECQ campaign (W1, L1), Spalletti will be looking to help the reigning European champions to a victory that could move them into the top-two.
A failure to do so would see Italy move a step closer to failing to qualify for a Euro finals for the first time since 1992, but that looks unlikely when analysing their stellar recent form in ECQs. The Azzurri have lost just one ECQ match since September 2006 (W35, D6), while they’ve won each of their last seven qualifiers away from home, with the last three accompanied by a clean sheet.
Players to watch: North Macedonia’s Eljif Elmas has seen his minutes limited for Napoli this season, but he’ll be confident here having netted six of his 11 international goals in ECQ matches. Italy’s Federico Chiesa has scored twice in three matches for Juventus this term, while he also netted the decisive goal as the Azzurri beat the Netherlands in June.
Hot stat: There hasn’t been a single draw across North Macedonia’s last 13 ECQ home matches (W6, L7) dating back to October 2011.