Turkey vs Italy – European Championship

Posted on June 11, 2021 by Shaun

Kicking off this season’s much-anticipated European Championships, Turkey vs Italy go head-to-head for the 12th time in their history. Hosted at the Stadio Olimpico in the heart of Rome, the venue will assuredly favour the Italians who linger at 1.50 odds to outright win with bet365. 

The Turks meanwhile, who haven’t won a single head-to-head matchup, are on a six-game unbeaten run in all competitions and have scored +1.5 goals in five matches of this unbeaten run. 

PaddyPower offer a very appealing 11/2 for Turkey to score two or more goals, but as they’ve scored exactly one goal in each of their last five head-to-head meetings, the more conservative punters amongst, may wish to turn to Ladbrokes, who are offering 17/10 for Turkey to not chicken out and score precisely one goal.

Historically, Turkey have lost each of their opening European Championships matches (since Euro 1996 and as three of these losses came by one-goal margins, Betfair’s offers of 4/1 for Italy to win 1-0, and 15/2 for Italy to repeat their Euro 2000 2-1 win, are both tasty and appealing markets. 

However, as three of Turkey’s last four European Championship openers saw no first-half goals,  Betvictor’s 31/20 odds for this game to see no first-half goals, which again, would mirror the 2-1 Italy win back in Euro 2000. In this event, Italy to win, with both teams to score with two or more match goals scored in the second-half will get you a handsome 7/1 using Bet365’s BetBuilder.

The stars could be aligning for the Italians here though who have lost just one of their eight European Championship openers. Winning eight straight games ahead of Euro 2020, it is Roberto Mancini’s solid defensive drilling which has earned his team a cleansheet in each of these wins. 

Therefore, William Hill’s offer of 4/6 for Italy to tally another shutout over the Turks (as they have done in six of their last 11 head-to-head meetings), could be a cash-cow for those who think that Italy will follow up on their opening Euro 2016 2-0 shutout win against high-flying Belgium. 

But punters be aware! The last two European Championship openers of 2016 and 2012 saw both teams score and the last European Championship opener to see no goals was back in 1968 – which Italy won on a coin toss, only to later win the tournament. 

Could history repeat here? If so, Singapore Pools offer 8.00 odds for the 0-0 goalless draw.

With regard to players, 29-goal Burak Yılmaz might be worth watching as he scored Turkey’s first goal in 2016 and having scored first last time out, is 8/1 for first goalscorer and 4/1 anytime with Netbet. 

However, at 7/4 with PaddyPower to be booked, Leicester City’s Caglar Soyuncu may be worth watching as he has been booked in a quarter of his 40 call-ups for Turkey at all levels and has received 31 domestic (club) career yellow cards along with three reds and is a proven enforcer.

Italy’s Lorenzo Insigne bagged a second-half goal in his last appearance and has eight international goals from 41 caps – further to this, his link-up play is next-to-none and the Napoli man has nine assists for his country and is 5/4 with Skybet to assist one goal.  

Furthermore, Italy’s midfielder Manuel Locatelli is likely to see some action here and was booked in his last two non-friendly international appearances. Additionally, he received nine total yellow cards this season from 34 appearances for his club Sassuolo and is at a good price at 16/5 to get a booking.