Two of Europe’s footballing superpowers go head to head on Wednesday as the ‘Azzurri’ face ‘Les Blues’ in Milan.
Italy seem to have put their 4-0 defeat to Spain in the Euro 2012 final behind them as they now sit top of their World Cup 2014 qualifying group with ten points from four games. Cesare Prandelli’s men have won their last three qualifiers on the spin.
France drew the short straw when the draw was made for the World Cup 2014 qualifiers as they were placed in a group with European champions Spain. The French have however stood up to the task admirably, and after winning their first two group games, recorded an excellent 1-1 draw away to the Spanish aristocrats last time out.
The home side are favourites with the bookmakers, and
Boylesports are offering 5/4 on a home win. The French are priced at a tempting 5/2 with bet365. SkyBet are offering the draw at 23/10. Given their recent qualifying form - including the aforementioned result in Spain – Didier Deschamps’ men will feel that victory is well within their remit.
Italy have won their last three qualifiers scoring eight times in the process. Daniele De Rossi has been left out of Prandelli’s squad for disciplinary reasons after punching an opponent in last weekend’s Rome derby against Lazio. Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli is set to lead the line for the Italians. ‘Super Mario’ – who scored last time out against Denmark – is 6/1 with
Ladbrokes to score first, with bet365 offering 2/1 on the player netting at any stage.
Andrea Pirlo is no stranger to finding the net for the Italians from midfield, and is particularly dangerous from dead ball situations. Pirlo is 14/1 with Ladbrokes to open the scoring and 5/1 with WilliamHill to score at any time.
Gael Clichy and Karim Benzema are among the French players ruled out of the clash through injury, while Samir Nasri has again been overlooked by Deschamps, following his misdemeanours at Euro 2012. Olivier Giroud scored France’s last-gasp equaliser against Spain and is set to start up front in the absence of Benzema.
Giroud is 7/1 with Ladbrokes to score first and 5/2 with bet365 to score at any time. For those wishing to take a punt on Franck Ribery in the goal scorer markets,
bet365 have priced him at 10/1 and 15/4 respectively to score first and at any time.
It is difficult to pick a winner out of what promises to be an intriguing game. The match has the potential to yield goals and over 2.5 goals can be backed at 7/5 with bet365 while Coral are offering odds of 11/10 on both teams to score.
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Olivier Giroud to score at any time @ 5/2 (
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