Spain begin the campaign to defend their European Championship crown in one of the most anticipated group stage fixtures against Italy.
Spain start with a tough match against European powerhouses Italy
Spain begin the campaign to defend their European Championship crown in one of the most anticipated group stage fixtures against Italy.
Vicente Del Bosque's side go into the game as the
8/11 favourites to start with a win but Italy should not be discounted and are a healthy
4/1 to begin Euro 2012 with three points.
The Spanish lost their opening 2010 World Cup game to Switzerland 1-0, before going on to win the trophy, and having lost a couple of key players through injuries it will be interesting to see how they line-up and approach a possible third successive major international tournament victory.
Italy have been dismissed by most pundits ahead of the start of the competition and with domestic issues surrounding match-fixing it has not been a straight forward preparation.
However, they came through qualifying with ease, picking up eight wins from 10 games and only conceding two goals, and still warrant respect, with the Italy and Draw double chance at
11/10 it could prove an appealing bet for Italy supporters.
It could pay to stick on the side of caution in this game, with the two sides at the head of the Group C betting (Spain 1/2 to win the group and Italy 7/2 to win Group C) neither will want to be chasing from the off and under 1.5 goals is available at 7/4.
With the absence of David Villa it remains to be seen who will be Spain's front-man going into the tournament with Alvaro Negredo and Fernando Torres both given minutes in the friendlies leading up to the tournament, while Athletic Bilbao striker Fernando Llorente is another in the running.
Torres looks the most likely to get the nod in the opener and is available at
5/1 to open the scoring, while for Italy Antonio Cassano is the danger man up-front and can be backed at
11/4 to score at anytime.
