Euro 2012: Italy and Croatia name unchanged line-ups
Italy and Croatia picked unchanged line-ups for their Euro 2012 Group C clash at the Municipal Stadium here on Thursday.
- Agence France-Presse
- Updated: June 14, 2012 09:03 PM IST
Italy and Croatia picked unchanged line-ups for their Euro 2012 Group C clash at the Municipal Stadium here on Thursday.
Euro 2012 | Blogs| Standings|Photos
Cesare Prandelli resisted the temptation to replace Mario Balotelli with Antonio Di Natale despite the Udinese striker's goalscoring performance off the bench against Spain.
The Italy boss also kept hard-working wing-backs Emanuele Giaccherini and Christian Maggio.
Slaven Blic named the same Croatian starting XI that beat Ireland 3-1 in their first group game.
Victory for Croatia would see them become the first team to qualify for the quarter-finals.
Teams:
Italy - (3-5-2)
Gianluigi Buffon (capt); Giorgio Chiellini, Daniele De Rossi, Leonardo Bonucci; Emanuel Giaccherini, Claudio Marchisio, Andrea Pirlo, Thiago Motta, Christian Maggio; Mario Balotelli, Antonio Cassano
Coach: Cesare Prandelli
Croatia (4-4-2)
Stipe Pletikosa; Darijo Srna (capt.), Vedran Corluka, Gordon Schildenfeld, Ivan Strinic; Ivan Rakitic, Ognjen Vukojevic, Luka Modric, Ivan Perisic; Nikica Jelavic, Mario Mandzukic
Coach: Slaven Bilic
Referee: Howard Webb (ENG)