Bulgaria vs Italy

March 27, 2015
By: Nemanja Lazarevic

Having taken mere four points from as many matches, Bulgaria will see this match as the final opportunity to revive their top 3 bid, but beating Italy is easier said than done. One again, the Azzurri did not impress in the opening exchanges, but they already have ten points on their tally and have got to be considered favourites to win in Sofia.

Bulgaria continue to disappoint

Bulgarian national team have become the laughing stock of their own fans following the long years of underachievement and disappointing results. The team last qualified for a major tournament in 2004, when they lost all three group games, and they didn’t even come close to ending the barren run since. Bulgaria started the Euro 2016 qualifying campaign brightly, defeating Azerbaijan on the road, but back to back losses to Croatia and Norway seriously damaged their chances. The team soon suffered a new low as they were unable to defeat minnows Malta at home, so no doubt the spirits are low ahead of the clash with rock-solid Italy. With no fresh talent coming through the ranks, coach Ivaylo Petev still relies on players like Valeri Bojinov and Stanislav Manolev, who are clearly well past their prime, so nobody is really surprised by their latest results. The hosts also have some important missings at the moment, meaning anything but a defeat would be considered a huge surprise.

The likes of Ivan Ivanov, Pavel Vidanov, Georgi Milanov, Todor Nedelev, Emir Gargorov and Dimitar Rangelov all miss out through injury.

Conte’s Italy extremely hard to beat

Everybody agrees that Antonio Conte was the perfect choice to take over from Cesare Prandelli following the disappointing exit from the 2014 World Cup and the former Juventus coach has slowly but surely helped the Azzurri restore the lost confidence. It all started with a friendly win over Netherlands, while qualifying wins over Norway, Azerbaijan and Malta further raised the spirits. Narrow wins over minnows Azerbaijan and Malta were criticised by some, but we all know that Italy rarely record big wins in the qualifiers, but rather ensure they always get the result they need. The home draw with Croatia was their first slip-up since Conte took over, and the Azzurri will want to return to winning ways when they face out-of-sorts Bulgaria. The coach has come under fire for calling Franco Vazquez and Eder, players born in South America, but he is unlikely to be too concerned by the media and will focus on getting his team ready for the clash in Sofia. Italy can be trusted to adopt a cautious approach, but they will be looking to take advantage of any mistake the opposition makes.

Fiorentina defender Manuel Pasqual is doubtful with a rib injury and he could be replaced by Luca Antonelli, while Ciro Immobile and Simone Zaza should start up front.

Verdict

Bulgaria were beaten by both Croatia and Norway, and with so many important players missing, chances are they won’t be able to match very good Italy side. The Azzurri continue to play result-oriented football and another narrow win could be on the cards.

Top pick: Away win   1.91 (10/11) @ Betfred

Alternative pick 1: Italy to win to nil   2.75 (7/4) @ Paddy Power

Alternative pick 2: Italy to win by one goal   3.50 (5/2) @ SkyBet

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