Overview
In the first leg, Italy opened the scoring very early thanks to Tonali. However, two goals from Kleindienst and Goretzka helped Germany get an important victory away from home. With this advantage, coach Nagelsmann's team can be completely confident when returning home in the second leg.
The victory over Italy extended Germany's unbeaten streak to 7. At the same time, they have also maintained an unbeaten record in all competitions since losing to Spain in the quarter-finals of EURO 2024.
However, Germany still has a problem to solve, which is creating opportunities based on the amount of ball control. In the first leg, Duc had up to 59% possession, but had fewer shots and fewer dangerous situations than the opponent. If Italy could take advantage of the opportunity, Germany is unlikely to have left San Siro with a victory.
For Italy, they not only traveled to Germany with a mentality of being behind, but also suffered a big loss when defender Calafiori could not participate in the second leg due to injury. Not to mention, with their situation at a disadvantage, Italy will be forced to push up to find a goal and this is not their forte.
Germany has not played very well in recent times, but they are still rated higher than Italy. With home advantage at Signal Iduna Park, Germany is likely to overcome Italy to win a ticket to the quarter-finals.
Personnel situation
Kleindienst could get a starting spot after scoring from the bench in the first leg. Otherwise, coach Nagelsmann is likely to keep the same squad.
On the other side of the front line, Calafiori had to practice to leave the field due to suspected knee injury and was likely to be absent in the second leg.
Expected lineup:
Germany: Baumann, Kimmich, Rudiger, Schlotterbeck, Mittelstadt, Goretzka, Gross, Sane, Musiala, Adeyemi, Kleindienst.
Italy: Donnarumma, Di Lorenzo, Bastoni, Buongiorno, Bellanova, Barella, Ricci, Tonali, Udogie, Raspadori, Kean.
The match between Germany and Italy takes place at 2:45 am on March 24 (Vietnam time).
