Euro 2020 Qualifiers: Finland vs Italy – tactical analysis

Ahead of this match of the Euro 2020 Qualifiers between Finland and Italy, both teams were in the first and second positions respectively of group J. The team of Roberto Mancini had won all of their five games until then, while their opponents just lost the first game of this qualification against the Squadra Azzurra, and so were in second position.

Finland were three points ahead of the national team of Armenia and so with a win, they would have had the chance to catch up to Italy and create an advance of six points ahead of the Armenian national team. On the other side, Italy had the opportunity to get 18 points out of their first six games.

In this tactical analysis, we will examine how Italy was able to defeat Finland 2-1 and look at both teams tactics.

Lineups

Mancini lined his team up in a 4-3-3 and Gianluigi Donnarumma was their goalkeeper. The back-four was made up of Armando Izzo, Leonardo Bonucci, Francesco Acerbi and Emerson who got subbed off after eight minutes and Alessandro Florenzi came on for him.

Jorginho played in the middle in front of the back four and Nicolò Barella, as well as Stefano Sensi, supported him in the central midfield. Ciro Immobile was the single striker while Federico Chiesa and Lorenzo Pellegrini were the wingers.

Finland