Preview: It is either Home or Rome as England and Italy square up in the Euro2020 final at Wembley
Italy meet England in the final of the European Championship 2020 after both side had survived all the hurdles on their way to the final two.
But on Sunday, there will be only one winner in Wembley and we take a preview into the forthcoming Euro climax, as Gareth Southgate faces off against Roberto Mancini.
It promises to be a even contest as it is difficult to separate both sides even on papers. However, Italy have endured a more difficult road to the final, than their counterpart.
Italy have been in sensational form even before the tournament, and they set a new record for most consecutive wins in European Championship, which includes the qualifiers, after their 2-1 win over Belgium in the quarter finals took them to 15 in a row.
The Azzurri are currently on a 33 games unbeaten run, and will relish the chance of making this run count with a major silverware.
In the Goalkeeper aea, both Italy and England are blessed with good men between the sticks. Gianluigi Donnarouma has proved a worthy successor to Buffon. The 25-year-old has never concede multiple times in a single game since his debut with National Team back in September 2018.
Moreso, it was not until the 114th minute of their round of 16 2-1 win over Austria that they conceded for the first time since October 2020, ending a run of 1,168 minutes without conceding.
England have Jordan Pickford in goal, who already is officially confirmed the winner of this tournament's golden glove award, with five clean sheets, which were recorded from England's first five games of the Championship.
The Everton Goalkeeper was also able to set new England record of 724 minutes without conceding a goal, before falling to Mikkel Damsgaard's free-kick in their semi final clash with Denmark.
The defense of both teams have also been very solid so far in the competition. England have only conceded once while Italy have conceded three times, understandably due to the teams they meet on their way to the final.
England's defenders are bound to face more than they have so far in the competition, not only because this Italy side have scored joint most goals in the tournament, but because they posses firepowers, who have not been shy in the competition.
The Azzurri become just the second side in European Championship history to have as many as five different players score 2 or more goals at a single edition of the competition, after France in the year 2000. As the likes of Chiesa, Pessina, Insigne, Immobile and Locatelli have all scored twice.
Players to watch
Raheem Sterling: Despite his poor end to the season with Manchester City, Raheem Sterling has been a revelation at the Euro2020 so far and he is undisputable England's best player so far.
He has been directly involved in 50% of England's ten goals in this Championship and he will be at the heart of everything good in the England's attack in Wembley on Sunday.
Jorginho: The Chelsea Midfielder has been one of Italy's top performers, pulling the strings in the middle of the park and got the deserved attention, after his penalty knocked out Spain in the last round.
It will also be interesting to see which players make the Gareth Southgate starting XI in the final, with youngster Bukayo Saka looking to have risen above the likes of Jadon Sancho, Jack Grealish, Phil Foden and Marcos Rashford in the pecking order lately.
Will the 19 year old become the youngest player to start in the final of a major tournament for the Three Lions, we will know when the England team sheet is released before kickoff on Sunday.
Italy were dealt with a major blow in their quarter final win over Belgium when defender, Leonardo Spinazzola got the injury that ruled him out for the rest of the tournament. The Roma defender was their best player at the tournament up to that moment.
Emerson Palmeri, who came in for him in the semi final clash with Spain did not do so well and that left wing back position will be major worry for Roberto Mancini, knowing the current form of Raheem Sterling and other English wingers.
Almost every regular player in the team of both sides deserve to be named in the team of the tournament and I think with the opposition both sides have faced on their way to the final, Italy might just be slight favourite to come out victorious on Sunday.
Predicted line-ups
Italy: 4-3-3 Formation - Donnarouma, Di Lorenzo, Chiellini, Bonucci, Emerson, Jorginho, Barela, Verratti, Insigne, Chiesa.
England: 4-3-3 formation - Pickford, Walker, Stones, Maguire, Shaw, Phillips, Rice, Mount, Sterling, Saka, Kane.
Score Prediction: It is most likely the game will be decided on penalties, so that players' mettle will be tested, after 120 minutes of football, with the nerve of penalty shootout.
Afolabi Kehinde Hassan
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