ITALY U21 TO TAKE ON SPAIN

The draw for the under-21 Euros tournament has been concluded and teams have now known their opponents. The current holders of the title are Spain and they will be looking to defend their title by all means.

Spain have been drawn in the same group as Slovenia, Italy, and the Czech Republic as they all contain Group B. In Group A, Germany and the Netherlands have been drawn alongside Hungary and Romania.

Occupying the Group C slots are Iceland, Russia, Denmark, and France. While for Group D, Portugal will lock horns with the likes of England, Switzerland, and Croatia. All the teams will be looking to stretch their capabilities and bank on their abilities to see if they can go as far as winning the tournament.

Italy and Spain have been drawn in the same group have both won the tournament five times each and it is going to be interesting to see how they face-off. According to Betiton, Spain remain the favourites for the outright tournament.

Full 2021 U21 Euro Tournament Draw
Group A: Germany, Hungary, Romania, Netherlands
Group B: Italy, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Spain
Group C: Denmark, Iceland, France, Russia
Group D: Croatia, England, Switzerland, Portugal

Slovenia and Hungary are the co-hosts of the competition and there is a unique format regarding how the matches will be played. Between the 24th of March and the 31st of March, the group stage games will be played. After then, there will be an eight-team knockout stage to be played between the 31st of May and the 6th of June.

The match schedule is yet to be released but will be done as soon as possible.

Who Will Win the Golden Gloves in 20/21?

The 2020/21 Serie A has commenced, with Juventus looking to win their 10th Scudetto in a row. There are some brilliant strikers in the league who will get all the attention, but we have to remember that keepers play a huge role when it comes to helping their team challenge for silverware.

You can have the best strikers in the world, but your keeper is no good, then you will not be winning many trophies. In this article we take a look at who we think will be competing for the Golden Glove this season.

Who Will Win the Golden Gloves in 20/21?

Samir Handanovic

The 36-year-old Slovenian goalkeeper has been one of the strong points for Inter over the last few seasons. Regardless of the occasional blunder, Handanovic kept an impressive 13 clean sheets last season, helping Inter fight their way as close to the league title as possible. With the likes of Godin, De Vrij and the emerging Bastoni, what seemed to be a shaky defense to begin with turned into one of the strongest defenses in the Serie A. However, with Godin’s move to Cagliari, can Handanovic lead his defensive squad towards another impressive number of clean sheets? Only time will tell. It definitely helps to have such a powerful midfield and attacking force to keep the opponents as far away from their goal as possible.

Wojciech Szczesny

It is tough to argue against this pick. Juventus have won the league nine seasons in a row, and this is not solely attributed to their insane attacking force. Their defensive ability has been equally impressive with Chiellini and Bonucci barring the road towards their final line of defense: Szczesny. And what a line of defense that is! With an impressive 11 clean sheets out of just 29 appearances, Szczesny is probably playing as well as he has ever done throughout his career. Solid and quick in moving his defensive teammates around, Juventus are extremely difficult to score against and many highly praised strikers will fail to get one past Szczesny this season. That is, if they can get past Juventus’ halfway line.

The bookmakers have Szczesny as the Golden Glove winner, and this is not surprising when you consider the defensive line that he has in front of him. If you are Irish and love your Serie A and are thinking about placing a bet on the keeper you think will win the Golden Glove, then we recommend that you head on over to https://www.betinireland.ie/. They have a team of experts who have picked out all of the best bookies for Irish punters such as William Hill, Bet Victor, or Sky Bet. If you take their advice on board, you will have a very good sports betting experience.

Gianluigi Donnarumma

With an impressive three clean sheets in his first three matches of this 2020/21 Serie A season, Donnarumma is bound to be one of the main protagonists in the chase for the Golden Glove. He is considered by many to be one of the best goalkeepers in the world and there are many in Italy who claim that he is ‘the new Buffon’, which is high praise indeed. Donnarumma has broken record after record, and he is still only 21. With thirteen clean sheets to his name throughout the 2019/20 season, and a still ongoing impressive unbeaten run by Milan, it is tough to see another keeper in the Serie A who could currently challenge this goalkeeper in terms of clean sheets. If central defenders Romagnoli and Kjaer can hold out during the season, Donnarumma will be a great force to be reckoned with and will certainly be one of the contenders for the Golden Glove.

Alex Meret

Although potentially switching regularly with his teammate Ospina, this 23-year old is not to be underestimated. He is considered to be one Donnarumma’s for the number 1 spot in the Italian national team. He already has a clean sheet to his name this season, so it is not surprising to see Meret’s name in this list of potential Serie A Golden Glove winners. With the stellar defense of Koulibaly and Manolas, Napoli can keep even the best strikers at bay. With Napoli also challenging the likes of Milan and Roma for a Champions League spot this year, Meret, together with his teammates, must strive to keep as many clean sheets as they can manage.

Bartłomiej Drągowski

Drągowski is not a keeper that many would put down as a potential for the Golden Glove, but those who watched him play on loan for Empoli for the second-half of last season will have seen just how much quality he has. Empoli fans will remember his performance in the match against Atalanta on the 15th April as he made a record 18 saves to earn his team a point. He is now back at Fiorentina and they mean business this season, and with Drągowski in goal and the likes of Pezzella and Milenkovic in defence, there is no reason why they cannot keep plenty of clean sheets this campaign. If he goes on to have a fine season, then he could even become Poland’s number one, displacing Szczeny.

Thomas Strakosha

We do not think that there are many out there who would disagree with us when we say that Strakosha is one of the best keepers in the Serie A. The Albanian international has proven himself in the Serie A, and he has some very capable defenders in front of him in the shape of Acerbi and Radu. Throughout the whole of last season, the only team that conceded fewer goals than Lazio were Inter Milan, and the former had a terrible post-Covid campaign. Now, the fixture list back to normal, there is no reason why they cannot go on to become the tightest defence in the league and be in and around the Top 4 come the end of the season.

Will Both Teams Score This Weekend?

With the Premier League set to deliver it’s final blows this weekend, after a season of twists and turns, we review the inticacies of this weekend’s fixtures – and one last chance to make some money! If you’re one of the many people who enjoys a bet on the weekend’s action, you’ll be more than accustomed to Both Teams To Score bets, which can be preferable to betting on a handful of sides to win, as it doesn’t matter how the game ends as long as both teams score at least once.

Football betting is one of the UK’s most celebrated hobbies and it makes even the dullest of games more worthwhile, so being able to add a selection to your betslip that isn’t dependant on the match result is like a dream-come-true to some punters.

If you’re into the concept of BTTS tips, Footy Accumulators are worth checking out, as they offer their own BTTS tips throughout the week.

Predicting Both Teams To Score bets from a full fixture list can be bewildering to some, so we’ve offered a helping hand with some recommended bets for this weekend:

Friday
The big Friday night game this week is a play-off first leg between Derby County and Fulham, with many backing Fulham but the early advantage coming from Derby County playing at home first. Although either side is capable of making it to the final – backed up by how many bets have been won through getting behind each throughout the season – the result is hard to predict, so adding Derby v Fulham to your BTTS tips at odds of 7/9 makes a lot of sense.

Saturday
Derbies among heated rivals are seen as being immensely enjoyable when looking at past encounters between Roma and Lazio, Manchester United and Manchester City, and Real Madrid and Barcelona, but this weekend’s local derby tie between Real Betis and Sevilla is also likely to pack a punch. Real Betis have won in their last four games at home and Sevilla defeated Real Madrid on Wednesday night, so it’s a great time to back them both to score at their 1/2 odds.

Sunday
Despite now being safe from relegation following on from a decisive set of results in midweek, Southampton will want to go out with a bang this weekend, as they host current Premier League champions Manchester City at St Mary’s. Odds of 13/16 have been made available by most bookmakers for each side to score and it’s quite generous considering the firepower of Man City and the sudden resilience of the Saints.

Our fourth and final pick in our list of insightful BTTS tips is for the crucial matchup between Roma and Juventus. Many punters were adding Napoli to their betslip as Serie A title champions this season, but their hopes of a late shock tailed off when they fell to some poor results when it mattered the most. Juventus are now five points clear of Napoli, who’ve since slipped down to third, but need to keep winning with two games left and points to play against a surprisingly dangerous Roma side. The bookies currently offer odds of 13/15 for BTTS in this game, and it’s likely to be an exciting penultimate game of the season as Juve push for yet another title.

Spalleti’s Inter are genuine title contenders

During the 2016-17 season of the Italian League Serie A, Inter Milan finished in the 7th spot in what was a very forgettable campaign. Whilst they remained one of the most watched teams onsocagol, fans were slowly being turned off by their stodgy performances, with the squad with the black and blue jerseys failing to make much of a mark in any competition as they struggled to add silverware to their collection.

This occurred when Stefano Pioli was at the helm of Inter Milan and not surprisingly, he was sacked after only 6 months.

Fast forward 10 months, and Inter are back topping the table as the most popular team to watch on direttastreamingcalciogratis.it in Serie A, with the change of coaches the obvious factor in their change in fortunes.

Spalleti’s Inter are genuine title contenders

This occurred when Stefano Pioli was at the helm of Inter Milan and not surprisingly, he was sacked after only 6 months.

On June 9 of 2017, it was confirmed that Inter Milan had appointed Luciano Spalletti as the new head coach of the Italian outfit and so far, he has sparked life back to the club with a superb start of the 2017-18 season with a total of 9 wins and 2 draws out of the 11 opening league matches.

In a recent press conference, Luciano Spalletti went on to talk about the road that lies ahead for his squad as the 58 year old manager said:

“We can’t have doubts about the road to follow; we need to make steps forward in order to reach our objectives. We want to be more certain in ourselves. We can’t even let the comments made up about us affect us. We know our strengths and weaknesses well; when you want to stop asking me about the Scudetto, it means that we can really compete for that objective. We need to continue a step at a time; we know where we want to end up”

Inter Milan have not won the Serie A title since the season of 2009-2010 but it seems like they are getting back on track and becoming a genuine contender of becoming the new champions of Italy and Luciano Spalletti can be credited in a very large part for this revival.

Even though Luciano Spalletti has spent his entire managerial career at the helm of Italian clubs, he has never been able to win the Serie A title and it seems like this is his chance to make it happen. Whilst fans on livestream.services still back Juventus to win the title, the expectation is there that Inter will push them to the very end for the Championship.

Amongst the other names expected to be fighting it out in May, Napoli have made the best start to the season, with a record-breaking 10 match unbeaten run helping them to open up a clear gap between themselves and the rest of the field.

Inter fans will be pleased to see one Milan struggling, with AC Milan stuck in mid-table, even though they spent a small fortune over the summer on players such as Bonucci. Whilst undoubtedly the players will need a little longer to bed in, this transition period may well end up costing them a spot in europe next season, which will have a real impact on their transfer targets and activity.

Park Backs United

Former South Korea and Manchester United midfielder Park Ji Sung believes that Manchester United can win the title next season. He said that there are signs that the team has clicked together and that they will be able to challenge all the way for the title.

However, he admitted that the next Premier League season would not be easy with at least five teams capable of challenging for the title. But he believes that Jose Mourinho has the necessary experience and that he will inculcate a winning mentality within the team.

Park Ji Sung said that he still follows Manchester United game whenever he has time and that he believes that this could be their season. He admitted that things have not been really good at Manchester United ever since Sir Alex Ferguson retired but he feels that things are beginning to change gradually. The latest odds at https://sport.netbet.co.uk/live-betting/ have United as one of the favourites to win the title, behind just Champions Chelsea in the rankings.

He believes that Jose Mourinho has a great plan for the club and that he knows what kind of players he needs. However, he admitted that the departure of Wayne Rooney could be quite difficult to handle as he was such a character in the dressing room. “It will be difficult for Manchester United to cope with the departure of two players such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Wayne Rooney. They were leaders on and off the pitch, and it is up to the younger players to rise to the occasion and make sure they bring glory to the team.”

Park Ji Sung said that it is also wonderful for the team to be back in the Champions League. He believes that the fans have been disappointed to have missed this great competition in recent seasons and that they will be happy to be back among the elite group of European clubs that participate in the tournament.

Park retired from the game in 2014 but to date he remains such an influential force in Korean football, and as a pundit on United, ever since World Cup 2002. Park was at the tournament the country hosted with Japan and Park, 19 then, was impressive in the game against Portugal that sent the group beyond the group stage – even local fans expected the team to falter!

The nation eventually reached the last four, even as many other top footballing nations fell by the road side. To date no other Asian side has come close to this feat. Even top European sides [Read: for example England] dream of finishing in the top four at a World Cup event.

The ‘small boy’ was soon standing toe to toe with the biggest names in club football. He was in contention for the best forward – the first time for an Asian. Then Manchester United came calling and Park became the second Asian star to play for the Red Devils after Dong Fangzhuo, and became a Legend overnight.

His fitness earned him the tag: “Three Lungs Park.” He played 200 matches and won 13 trophies before he left Old Trafford.

Pioli Has Inter On Course For Champions League

Inter Milan were once the dominant force in Italian football, winning five Serie A crowns on the bounce under the management of Roberto Mancini and Jose Mourinho. Under the Portuguese they even conquered Europe, clinching the Champions League trophy for the third time in the history of the club.

Since the departure of Mourinho, the Nerazzurri have endured a dramatic decline – coinciding with the rise of Juventus to become the quality outfit of the country. Nine men have taken to the dugout in the San Siro in an attempt to guide the club back to the top, but eight have been cast aside due to their failures.

Pioli Has Inter On Course For Champions League

In the current campaign, the Nerazzurri dispatched Frank de Boer following his side’s immense struggles in Serie A along with the Europa League – where they failed to qualify from the group stage.

The appointment of Stefano Pioli has reversed the fortunes of the club, who are now trending in the right direction in the table, although plenty of work remains for the Nerazzurri to regain their place in the Champions League for next term.

As a result of their recent resurgence, Inter are backed in the latest bet365 Serie A betting odds at 6/1 to qualify for Europe’s elite competition, ending their five-year exile.

After a successful tenure with Ajax in Eredivisie, there was excitement when De Boer was announced as Mancini’s replacement at the San Siro. The Italian’s second spell at the club had not been as fruitful as his first, culminating in his departure during the summer.

De Boer had won four titles with the famous Dutch club and was expected to bring resilience back to the Inter defence. However, his spell was anything but as the Nerazzurri struggled immensely in Serie A, starting with their opening-day defeat to Chievo.

Although wins were to come, defeats were not far round the corner dropping the team alarmingly down the table. The final straws came in a 1-0 loss to Sampdoria on the road and their premature exit from the Europa League, ending De Boer’s tenure after just three months.

Pioli had two decent years in Lazio, but their eight-place finish last term was deemed not satisfactory by the club, resulting in his sacking. Inter moved for him to replace De Boer and he has reversed the fortunes of the club.

In his 14 matches in Serie A, Inter have won 11 of the contests, losing only twice – which came on the road against Napoli and Juventus.

Given the quality of both of those outfits at home the defeats were not a huge surprise, but their previous form of seven wins on the bounce during December and January has kindled hope that the club can push for a place in the top three this term.

Pioli has only had a short time at the club, therefore his changes have not been sweeping. However, one area where Nerazzurri have shown significant improvement is their form at the back. Since the 51-year-old’s arrival, they’ve kept seven clean sheets in his 14 Serie A matches, including a shutout against his former side Lazio.

Juventus have made their defensive form the foundation of their recent dominance of Italian football and should this be a sign of things to come from Inter – I Bianconeri could have another challenger on their hands.

Inter will have a lot of attacking talent at their disposal, with Mauro Icardi having overcome his issues with the club’s supporters. His quality along with that of Antonio Candreva, Ivan Perisic and Joao Mario could be enough to fire Pioli’s men into the top three this term.

JUVENTUS MATIC MOVE BLOCKED AGAIN

Five-time Serial Serie A champions Juventus had the move for Nemanja Matic blocked again. Since selling their star midfielder Paul Pogba to Manchester United for a world record fee, the club has been on the neck of Chelsea FC to sign Matic as replacement.

According to reports, Chelsea would rather offer Cesc Fabregas to the Italian champions that allow Matic walk this summer.

According to reports, Chelsea would rather offer Cesc Fabregas to the Italian champions that allow Matic walk this summer.

Fabregas, 29, endured a mixed season at Stamford Bridge since joining. His first season was a great one under Jose Mourinho with whom they eventually won the Premier League. With Antonio Conte taking control, Fabregas faces threats due to a change in game plan and arrival of former Leicester City player N’Golo Kante. Conte has openly mentioned that he wants Matic to remain at the Bridge.

Matic has been kept away from it all because he’s playing over in RIo at the Olympics for his country, with their matches regularly featuring amongst the Olympic games best odds – they are dark horses but have a great chance of progressing with Matic in the side.

However, there are reports now in Italy that the former Italy national team coach is ready to follow through a proposed swap agreement between both clubs, but instead of accepting Simone Zaza from the former club he managed, he would offer them the Spaniard.

TuttoSport say Juve have £17.3 million set aside for a new midfielder though they could go higher for their first choice 29-year old Frenchman Blaise Matuidi of Paris St. Germain. Serbian player Matic joined Chelsea two years ago, and Conte doesn’t want to release the player as he seems him as a reliable option as he takes charge of his first season in the Premier League.

There are reports also that Juve coach Massimiliano Allegri is considering

The replacement is Giampiero Ventura – a 68 year old who has bags of experience but also has fans voicing concerns as the coach has never won a major title and has spent much of his career in the lower divisions.

The tactician was announced on Monday and has been tasked to prepare the team for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

The chief of the Italian federation (FIGC), Carlo Tavecchio, confirming his appointment, described the coach as a “master of football.” Tavecchio on FIGC website said “I chose Ventura because he is a master of football and has taught many other coaches his innovative methods. He has launched the careers of so many players in the national team, he has huge experience in training youngsters and I think he has a healthy sense of belonging.”

Ventura has enjoyed a long, steady coaching career in Italy but has only worked with small clubs except one season at Napoli. He has coached Sampdoria, Lecce, Cagliari, Venezia, Pisa, Bari, Verona, Messina, Udinese and Spezia. The tactician has never lifted a major trophy; say Serie A or the Italian Cup, although he led Lecce to the third tier Serie C title in 1996.

He has the respect of football lovers in Italy following a five-year spell with Torino when he led them out of Serie B, helping them to decent finishes in the middle and upper half of Serie A.

Based on the new deal with the national team, he will quit Torino by mutual agreement at the end of this season.

Whilst some doubt his appointment, there are doubts still for the Italian national team, set to play at the European Championships in France. Despite defeating their Finnish counterpart in a pre tournament friendly on Monday, the Italian Press are still unsure on the team’s best set up even though there were a lot of improvements needed if they were to make a real impact at the continental tournament.

Dutch referee Bas Nijhuis presided over the game which the Azzurri won 2-0, making it the first time they won consecutive friendly games since 2014. The defence put up decent performance especially Antonio Candreva but the game still revealed the limitations the team has few days to their first opening game in France.

The defence, made primarily from Juventus include veteran Gianluigi Buffon at the goal posts and centre-backs Andrea Barzagli, Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini, did well in not allowing a shot on target as Scotland and Finland combined for two shots total in the two matches. Though Salvatore Sirigu was on duty ahead of first choice Buffon against Finland, the defence left him to stroll around for the entire match.

One of the good things the team has going is the movement from the defence to the attack – Chiellini and Barzagli moved forward several times, helping the team’s attack.

Conte will need to allow the defence to bypass the midfield to get the attack going in France – with the team’s players in Claudio Marchisio and Marco Verratti injured, they are left with fewer options. Daniele De Rossi and Thiago Motta remain in the middle of the park but the midfield remains dangerously low on creativity.

Conte was condemned for his decision to leave out youngsters such as Napoli’s Jorginho in the absence of Verratti, especially as he decided to leave out veteran Andrea Pirlo, but the team seem to have done ok so far…

Allegri – Juventus still have a lot to do

In spite of being on the top spot of the Serie A and on the threshold of making it to the Coppa Italia final, Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri said that the team has to battle hard on all fronts, and warned his players that no medals are handed out before May.

Allegri’s boys are expected to get the scope to retain their Coppa Italia title in the end-of-the-season final as they head into Wednesday’s 2nd leg match against at Inter with a 3-0 lead, whom they defeated 2-0 on a home match in Serie A on Sunday.

The team’s morale was further boosted by a 2-2 draw against Bayern Munich in the 1st leg of their Champions League last-16 match previous week, even though Allegri is enthusiastic to guard against self-satisfaction.

At a news conference, he told that his team played well on Sunday against Inter, but with eleven matches to go, the season is quite far from over.

Last night’s result in Florence really favored them, but there are still thirty-three points to fight for and so they require to concentrate on increasing their own tally to one capable of winning the Scudetto.

Now their focus is only on the San Siro and securing a place in the Coppa Italia final. A win in this would give Allegri a strong case to be considered for the Italian National side’s managerial position, with Antonio Conte expected to move on to Chelsea after he has completed Euro 2016 – regardless of how far the Italians go. (You can check out the latest prices for Euro 2016 tickets if you click here).

After that they would think about their league game against Atalanta. He reminded that Juventus has not yet won the championship. They still have to be in focus as maths says otherwise. The team must play for everything till the end.

NAPOLI WILL BOUNCE BACK

Pepe Reina is of the view that the attitude of Napoli in their previous Serie A game versus Bologna, which they lost, was not right and they were probably still in the hangover of the win that they had registered over Internazionale a week back.

It was only the second defeat for the Blues in the Italian top flight in the ongoing season, but, it influenced their position in the points table significantly as they slipped down straight to no. 3.

Bologna made inroads pretty early in that game as they were up by 2-0 in the first 25 minutes with Destro and Rossettini finding the net. Another goal in the second half thereafter, which was Destro’s second, seemed to almost secure the game for Bologna, but, Gonzalo Higuain had other ideas. If you had backed Napoli to win at that point on the StanJames live betting odds, you could have got as much as 20/1.

The Argentinean produced two back to back strikes close to the injury time to liven up the game, but, it did not prove to be sufficient as the visitors remained short.

Talking to the media after the defeat, Reina said, “Our attitude at the beginning could have been better. I felt humility was lacking a little bit. When you get trailed by 2-0 so early, you can only chase the game. If I had not made that mistake later on, we might have avoided the defeat. So, I take responsibility for that.”

“I think we had perhaps not put that Inter Milan match out of our system. You have to show maturity if you have to maintain the top position. However, we will have to move on. It’s important to get up and get back to winning ways.”

“It’s Roma next for us and they are tough opponents, we know that. But, playing in front of our supporters, we will be confident and hopefully, we are able to fetch three points.”