Israel vs Italy

Boszik Arena in Budapest forms the backdrop for a ‘David vs Goliath’ UEFA Nations League clash between Israel and Italy.

Despite a resilient first-half performance on their opening-day trip to Belgium, Israel suffered a 3-1 defeat against De Rode Duivels in their first-ever League A outing. Though the ‘Chosen Team’ topped their group in the 2022/23 League B to earn their maiden top-tier promotion, they’re up against history and tradition in this section. Ran Ben Shimon’s men meet Italy for the first time since FIFA World Cup 2018 qualification when they lost both matches, including a 3-1 defeat on home turf. While revenge could be a powerful motive, the hosts head into proceedings amid a woeful four-game run (W1, L3), with each of those three losses coming by multi-goal margins. As if that’s not worrying enough, they’ve only claimed one win in their last six internationals on home soil (D1, L4).

On the other hand, Italy erased the memory of an underwhelming Euro 2024 campaign with a sterling 3-1 triumph against France in their curtain-raising Group A2 contest. Luciano Spalletti’s side came from behind to beat Les Bleus in Paris, extinguishing the pain of a 2-0 loss to Switzerland in the Euro 2024 round of 16. Yet, slow starts have become synonymous with the Italians as after conceding the fastest-ever goal at the European Championships against Albania, they set an identical record in the Nations League against France. That ominous fact faded in comparison with their first victory against the French in 16 years. That result helped ‘Gli Azzurri’ maintain their outstanding record of losing just once across their last 13 fixtures in the Nations League group stages (W7, D5).