Roberto Mancini has made eight changes to his Italy side in their quest to secure Group A’s top spot.
Only Gianluigi Donnarumma (€5.5m), Leonardo Bonucci (€5.5m) and Jorginho (€6m) keep their place for this afternoon’s clash with Wales, with highly-owned assets like Lorenzo Insigne (€8.5m), Ciro Immobile (€10m), Domencio Berardi (€6m) and Leonardo Spinazzola (€5.5m) relegated to the bench.
Mancini had already confirmed that Marco Verratti (€6.5m) would play his first minutes of the tournament but Alessandro Florenzi (€6m) is still absent after injuring his calf in the opener against Turkey, whilst Giorgio Chiellini (€6m) only lasted 24 minutes against Switzerland before picking up a hamstring problem.
Federico Chiesa (€7m) and Andrea Belotti (€8m) are recalled and will have an opportunity to force their way into an impressive Italian side in time for the knockout phase.
Italy are unbeaten in 29 matches, stretching back to September 2018. Their ten consecutive clean sheets will be tested by a strong Wales line-up that includes Gareth Bale (€9.5m) and Aaron Ramsey (€8.5m).
Robert Page has made three changes, with Chris Gunter (€5m), Neco Williams (€4.5m) and Ethan Ampadu (€5m) replacing Kieffer Moore (€6.5m), Chris Mepham (€4.5m) and Ben Davies (€5.5m) – the rested trio are all one booking away from a suspension.
It appears to be a change from a four-man defence to a wing-back system by Page and while four points are already enough to secure qualification, a win over Italy will secure top spot.
Whoever tops the group will face the runner-up of Group C, containing Netherlands, Ukraine and Austria. Second place will face their Group B equivalent, either Belgium, Russia, Finland or Denmark.
The final round of group games means simultaneous matches, with Switzerland and Turkey playing in the other game.
The Swiss have reached the round of 16 in their previous three tournaments but will likely need a win on top of the point secured against Wales. Two defensive changes sees Kevin Mbabu (€5m) and Fabian Schar (€5m) make way for Silvan Widmer (€4.5m) and Steven Zuber (€7m).
Xherdan Shaqiri (€7m) keeps his starting spot, as does Burak Yilmaz (€8m) and Caglar Soyuncu (€5m) for Turkey. Picked as pre-tournament dark horses, the Crescent Stars conceded just three times in qualifying but have lost 3-0 and 2-0 so far.
Merih Demiral (€5m) scored an own-goal against Italy and was promptly dropped for their Wales meeting, although he is back in the starting XI here. Turkey’s trio of changes also brings Mert Muldur (€4.5m) and Irfan Can Kahveci (€5.5m) into proceedings, in place of Okay Yukuslu (€5.5m), Kenan Karaman (€6.5m) and Umut Meras (€4.5m).
Italy XI (4-3-3): Donnarumma; Tolói, Bonucci, Bastoni, Emerson; Pessina, Jorginho, Verratti; Chiesa, Belotti, Bernardeschi
Wales XI (3-5-2): Ward; Gunter, Rodon, Ampadu; C Roberts, Morrell, Allen, Ramsey, N Williams; James, Bale
Switzerland XI (3-4-2-1): Sommer; Elvedi, Akanji, Rodríguez; Widmer, Xhaka, Freuler, Zuber; Shaqiri; Embolo, Seferovic
Turkey XI (4-2-3-1): Çakir; Çelik, Demiral, Soyunçu, Muldur; Ayhan, Tufan; Ünder, Kahveci, Calhanoglu; Burak Yilmaz.
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Group A: Turkey | Italy | Wales | Switzerland
Group B: Denmark | Finland | Belgium | Russia
Group C: Netherlands | Ukraine | Austria | North Macedonia
Group D: England | Croatia | Scotland | Czech Republic
Group E: Spain | Sweden | Poland | Slovakia
Group F: Hungary | Portugal | France | Germany
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2 years, 10 months agoDonnarumma coming off