Ahead of a winner-takes-all clash with Ukraine in their final Euro 2024 qualifier, Italy seek to sneak into the top two of the Group C rankings during the visit of North Macedonia to Stadio Olimpico on Friday.

In contrast, the visitors have been eliminated from Finals contention, although they could still inflict another dose of despair on the Azzurri following their historic World Cup playoff triumph.

Match preview

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Goals in London were a rarity for ex-West Ham United striker Gianluca Scamacca during his ill-fated West Ham United tenure, but the Atalanta BC marksman capitalised on some lackadaisical England defending with just 15 minutes gone in last month's Euro 2020 final reunion.

Criminally left alone inside the penalty area, Scamacca duly crashed home Giovanni Di Lorenzo's delivery into the roof of the net, but Luciano Spalletti's troops would soon be subjected to a Three Lions onslaught, as Harry Kane's brace and Marcus Rashford's strike turned the tie on its head.

Successive defeats to England brought a swift end to Italy's four-game unbeaten run in Group C, during which time Spalletti's troops amassed a respectable 10 points from 12 on offer to surge back into top-two contention, although the Three Lions are already riding off into the first-placed sunset.

Instead, Italy and Ukraine are engaged in a two-team shootout for the runners-up berth, with the Azzurri currently three points behind their fellow hopefuls with a game in hand, and victory on Friday would leave Spalletti's men needing just a draw from Monday's crunch clash with the Blue and Yellow to qualify directly.

Failure to sink North Macedonia would require Italy to defeat Ukraine on the final matchday to finish in the top two, otherwise Spalletti's men must traverse another playoff campaign to book their tickets to Germany, but they welcome North Macedonia to Rome having only lost one home Euros qualifier since the turn of the millennium.

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Thankfully for the reigning European champions, there will be no repeat of last year's humiliating World Cup playoff defeat to North Macedonia, although the Lynxes could still put another dent in Italy's qualification aspirations as they attempt to go out on a high note.

Following their historic yet short-lived appearance at Euro 2020, North Macedonia have fallen short in their bid to make back-to-back Finals and have already been eliminated from contention with two games to play, amassing just seven points from a possible 18 so far.

Holding Italy to a 1-1 draw and sinking Malta 2-0 represented a positive September for Blagoja Milevski's men, but they were given a harsh reality check in a 2-0 loss to Ukraine, leaving them incapable of forcing their way into the top two spots in Group C.

The third-placed Lynxes do not have a Nations League ranking to fall back on either, meaning that their latest continental journey will end with this month's daunting meetings with the Azzurri and England - who travel to Skopje on Monday - but a 3-1 friendly win over Armenia on October 17 was warmly-received.

Furthermore, since a narrow 3-2 loss to Italy in a 2018 World Cup qualifier, North Macedonia have traversed their last three meetings with the Euro 2020 winners unbeaten, following up last year's unforgettable 1-0 World Cup playoff win with a low-scoring draw two months ago, where a Ciro Immobile strike preceded Enis Bardhi's late leveller.

Team News

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With half an hour played at Wembley, Italy and Napoli right-back collected his third booking of Group C - ruling him out of Friday's match through suspension - and Spalletti has also lost Rafael Toloi, Alex Meret, Manuel Locatelli, Alessandro Bastoni and Davide Calabria to injury since naming his squad.

Another two defenders involved in October's clashes - Destiny Udogie and Giorgio Scalvini - are all absent too, leading Spalletti to call up uncapped Juventus full-back Andrea Cambiaso, while Monza playmaker Andrea Colpani could also make his first Azzurri appearance this month.

Matteo Darmian and Manuel Lazzari will fight to deputise for the banned Di Lorenzo, while the returning Jorginho could be deployed at the base of the midfield owing to his increased game time in the number six role at Arsenal, but star striker Immobile is missing again.

Regarding North Macedonia, captain Stefan Ristovski - who plies his trade with Dinamo Zagreb in Croatia - has not been called up to the squad since June owing to a rift with Milevski, who has once again omitted him from the ranks this time around.

The visiting coach has otherwise kept faith with the same troupe from October's internationals, although neither Valon Ethemi nor Ljupcho Doriev - both of whom were present last month - have been called up this time around.

Italy possible starting lineup:
Donnarumma; Darmian, Acerbi, Gatti, Dimarco; Barella, Jorginho, Frattesi; Berardi, Scamacca, Chiesa

North Macedonia possible starting lineup:
Dimitrievski; Manev, Musliu, Serafimov; Ashkovski, Ademi, Atanasov, Alioski; Bardhi, Elmas; Trajkovski

We say: Italy 2-0 North Macedonia

Proving to be one of Italy's bogey teams down the years, North Macedonia have never failed to score against their more esteemed counterparts and should play with the shackles off on Friday, having already been condemned to their fate.

However, the Lynxes' luck against the Euro 2020 holders is sure to run out soon, and with the Olimpico crowd behind them, we can only picture the Azzurri coming up trumps, thus giving themselves a crucial injection of confidence ahead of Monday's crunch clash with the Ukrainians.


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Written by
Ben Knapton

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