The European champions Italy will return to the fold this week when they host Hungary at Stadio Olimpico in the second round of the UEFA Nations League A group 3. Kickoff schedules for June 7, 2022 at 21:45 EAT.
Italy finished first in their 2020-21 Nations League group ahead of the Netherlands and Poland, qualifying for the tournament’s finals, where they were eliminated in the semis by Spain and then claimed the minor consolation of third place by beating Belgium. The Italians have been going through one of the darkest periods in their recent history after they failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup. The hosts have only won one of their last six matches across all competitions, drawing three and losing two. Italy has also been very poor at home with one win in their last five matches.
The Azzurri prepare for this game off the back of a 1-1 Nations League stalemate with Germany in their last fixture. In that game, Italy had 33% possession, 11 shots with two of them on target and a goal scored by Lorenzo Pellegrini (70′). Germany got 12 shots with four of them on target and a goal by Joshua Kimmich (73′).
On the other hand the Hungarians have been having a dream to run in the international football for the past few years, they were placed in the death group in the recently-concluded Euro Cup and though they were eliminated in the first round but they really delivered some high quality performances against some top-rated teams. The visitors have an excellent away record having lost only once in their last 11 matches, with three draws and seven wins.
Hungary heads into this meeting confident following 1-0 Nations League victory to beat England in their last match. In that game, Hungary had 43% possession, 11 shots with six of them on target and a goal scored by Dominik Szoboszlai (66′). England got 12 shots with four of them on target.
Italy vs. Hungary head to head
Tuesday’s fixture will be the sixth head to head encounter between these two sides since 1938. Italy boasts a slight upper hand winning six times while Hungary has a solitary win and one match ended in a draw.
- Hungary 3-1 Italy 22/08/07
- Italy 3-1 Hungary 01/05/91
- Hungary 1-1 Italy 17/10/90
- Italy 3-1 Hungary 06/06/78
- Italy 4-2 Hungary 19/06/38
Home
- Italy 1-1 Germany
- Italy 0-3 Argentina
- Turkey 2-3 Italy
- Italy 0-1 North Macedonia
- Northern Ireland 0-0 Italy
Away
- Hungary 1-0 England
- Northern Ireland 0-1 Hungary
- Hungary 0-1 Serbia
- Poland 1-2 Hungary
- Hungary 4-0 San Marino
Italy team news
Domenico Berardi, Ciro Immobile, Federico Chiesa, Gaetano Castrovilli, Rafael Toloi and Nicolo Zaniolo will be unavailable for boss Roberto Mancini selection through injuries.
Hungary team news
Hungary has a fully-fit squad at the moment and will need to field their best team in this fixture.
Prediction and odds
We are backing a draw here as the Italians might be lining up with newer players but they will be determined to make amends for their recent losses while Hungarians had won three of their past four overall fixtures and they had remained unbeaten in four of their former five games as well.
- Draw
- Goals over 2.5
- Both teams to score
