Italy will be relegated from the Nations League A if they lose to Poland this evening, while a draw would leave everything open.
It kicks off in Chorzow’s Silesian Stadium at 19.45 UK time (18.45 GMT).
The sides are currently level on one point each, earned in their 1-1 draw in Bologna last month, with Portugal running away on six.
Whoever loses today’s clash will be relegated, regardless of the final results against Portugal.
Italy will be relegated from the Nations League A if they lose to Poland this evening, while a draw would leave everything open.
It kicks off in Chorzow’s Silesian Stadium at 19.45 UK time (18.45 GMT).
The sides are currently level on one point each, earned in their 1-1 draw in Bologna last month, with Portugal running away on six.
Whoever loses today’s clash will be relegated, regardless of the final results against Portugal.
That is because they would at most be able to draw level on points, but the winner of this game would have the superior head-to-head record.
In case of a draw, Italy host Portugal on November 17 and would have to wait until Portugal-Poland on November 20 to calculate goal difference.
Although Coach Roberto Mancini was at great pains to point out relegation “would not be a drama or really change anything,” that is not entirely true.
The Nations League is also used to decide who is seeded in the draw for Euro 2020 qualifiers.
Considering Italy failed to reach the 2018 World Cup because they were second seeds and therefore finished behind Spain in their group, a similar outcome for the Euros would be disastrous.
Qualifiers for Euro 2020 begin in March 2019 with the top two from each group going through.