Italy begin their Euro 2020 qualifying campaign against Finland with Moise Kean and Cristiano Piccini given their first starts, Federico Bernardeschi and Ciro Immobile.

It kicks off in Udine at 19.45 GMT, you can follow all the build-up and action as it happens while giving your views on the LIVEBLOG.

Coach Roberto Mancini must do without injured Lorenzo Insigne, Federico Chiesa, Alessandro Florenzi and Mattia Perin.

Italy begin their Euro 2020 qualifying campaign against Finland with Moise Kean and Cristiano Piccini given their first starts, Federico Bernardeschi and Ciro Immobile.

It kicks off in Udine at 19.45 GMT, you can follow all the build-up and action as it happens while giving your views on the LIVEBLOG.

Coach Roberto Mancini must do without injured Lorenzo Insigne, Federico Chiesa, Alessandro Florenzi and Mattia Perin.

Until now, Chiesa had been the only outfield player to feature in all nine of Mancini’s Azzurri matches.

Immobile and Bernardeschi start in the trident attack, but 19-year-old Juventus talent Kean is given his first senior Italy start.

His only previous cap was as a substitute in the 1-0 friendly win over the USA in November 2018.

The teenager is preferred to Stephan El Shaarawy and Matteo Politano in the wide role.

Immobile has failed to score in his last nine Italy appearances, since a header to beat Israel 1-0 on September 5, 2017.

Also getting his first Italy start is Piccini at right-back, the Valencia man stepping in for the injured Florenzi.

He had two brief substitute appearances against Ukraine and Poland back in October 2018.

Marco Verratti and Jorginho bring international club experience, with Nicolò Barella of Cagliari becoming a midfield regular under Mancini.

Finland are also forced to do without some important players, such as left-back Jere Uronen and striker Jasse Tuominen.

This means Juha Pirinen is drafted into the defence, but the attack seems a far more fluid proposition.

Even Crotone defender Sauli Vaisanen gets the nod in the starting XI, which appears to be a 5-3-1-1 formation with Kasper Hamalainen in the supporting role.

The danger man is Teemu Pukki, who is not only scoring regularly for Norwich City in the Championship this season, but also found the net five times in his last seven international matches.

Italy: G Donnarumma; Piccini, Bonucci, Chiellini, Biraghi; Verratti, Jorginho, Barella; Bernardeschi, Immobile, Kean

Italy bench: Sirigu, Cragno, Mancini, Spinazzola, Pavoletti, Grifo, Romagnoli, Sensi, Politano, Quagliarella, El Shaarawy, Zaniolo

Finland: Hradecky; Granlund, Toivio, S Vaisanen, Arajuuri, Pirinen; Lod, Sparv, Kamara; Hamalainen; Pukki

Finland bench: Joronen, Jaakkola, Taylor, Jensen, Schuller, Soiri, Kauko, L Vaisanen, Sumusalo, Lam, Karjalainen, Lappalainen

Ref: Grinfeld (ISR)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Tickets Kit Collector