[monks data]

European Under-21s Championship | Group Stage

Jun 21, 2015 at 7.45pm UK

Italy U21s Italy Under-21s
0-0
Portugal U21s Portugal Under-21s

Preview: Italy Under-21s vs. Portugal Under-21s

By Shane Callaghan, Reporter | 19 June 2015

Sports Mole looks ahead to Italy's Under-21 clash with Portugal at the European Championship as the Azzurri bid to keep alive hopes of a sixth title.

On Sunday, five-time European champions Italy Under-21s take on Portugal Under-21s in a must-win clash to keep alive their hopes of a sixth title.

However, victory could prove tricky after the Portuguese - among the pre-tournament favourites - edged out England 1-0 to kick off their campaign with a win.

Italy

With five titles, Italy Under-21s are the most successful country in the history of this competition, but Luigi Di Biagio's men have plenty of work to do in order to convince fans that a sixth triumph is on the horizon.

Inexplicably, the Azzurri slumped to a 2-1 defeat to 10-man Sweden after taking a half-time lead through Domenico Berardi. They had plenty of chances to kill off the clash before John Guidetti equalised, and Di Biagio claimed in his post-match press conference that a lack of killer instinct cost his side dearly.

On Sunday, the Italy boss will hope for a better performance - and improvement is vital because defeat would see the five-time champions bow out at the group stage if Sweden beat England.

It has been 11 years since the Italians went all the way at an U21 Euros, following a 2004 campaign that is littered with positive omens for the current crop of Azzurri youngsters.

During that competition, Italy lost their opening game to Belarus by the same scoreline as Sweden beat them, before ultimately progressing into the knockout stages and beating Portugal 3-1 in the semi-finals en route to the title.

It remains to be seen if history can repeat itself for Di Biagio's men, but the Italian coach will not be overly downbeat over his side's chances of turning things around given how things panned out back in 2004.

Recent form: WLWDLL

Portugal

Only Germany are shorter odds to win the competition than Portugal, and Rui Jorge's men showed why with strong performance against England on Thursday.

Joao Mario scored the only goal in a game which saw the Portuguese impress at both ends of the field and illustrate why they are one of the favourites.

Afterwards, Jorge described his team's victory as a "triumph of both talent and sacrifice" and the 42-year-old - who faced Italy on three occasions as an Under-21 player himself - will call on those same qualities again as Portugal look to take a big step into the semis.

Jorge was in the squad back in 1994 when Portugal lost the Under-21 European Championship final to Italy.

Consequently, the coach, who has been in charge of the team since 2010, will hope that victory on Sunday takes his troops one step closer toward redemption over what happened 21 years ago.

Recent form: WWLDLW

Team News

Juventus' midfielder Stefano Sturaro celebrates after scoring during the Italian Serie A football match Juventus vs Napoli on May 23, 2015

Stefano Sturaro is sidelined for the Italians through suspension after earning a straight red card with 10 minutes remaining in Thursday's defeat to Sweden.

Cristiano Biraghi could come into defence for the Juventus man as Di Biagio is forced to shuffle his back four.

Meanwhile, Ricardo, Portugal's top goalscorer in qualifying, is expected to spearhead the attack once more.

William Carvalho earned praise for his midfield performance against the Young Lions and Jorge will want to see that dominance once more this Sunday.

Italy possible starting lineup:
Bardi; Battocchio, Sturaro, Viviani, Baselli; Berardi, Belotti, Zappacosta, Sabelli; Rugani, Bianchetti

Portugal possible starting lineup:
Sa; Esgaio, Llori, Oliveira, Guerreiro; Olveira, William, Mario, Cavaleiro; Bernardo Silva, Ricardo

Head To Head

At Under-21 level, Italy have won eight of the last 12 meetings with Portugal, whose last victory over their Italian counterparts came way back in the 1996 edition of the competition.

Of the 12 previous clashes, none were more important than the one in 1994 when both sides met for the first one-off final of the competition, which was determined by Pierluigi Orlandini as Italy won 1-0.

We say: Italy 0-1 Portugal

Despite history favouring Italy, Portugal showed enough quality at both ends of the field in their win over the English to justify their label as one of the pre-tournament favourites. We reckon that another narrow win looms for them this Sunday.