Our prediction for this Nations League match:
All eyes will be on King Baudouin Stadium when Belgium and Italy square off against each other in the Nations League Group 2 derby. The Red Devils are five points behind second-place France, meaning that this has to go down as a must-win game for them. The good news for the hosts is that Romelu Lukaku is back, but Man City ace Kevin De Bruyne has once again requested to be left out. All Youri Tielemans, Sebastiaan Bornauw, and Koni De Winter miss out with injuries.
The Azzurri, on the other hand, aim to retain top position in the standings. Luciano Spalletti is doing a great job with the Italy national team, but they should be happy with one point from Thursday’s clash as well. Earlier in the process the two sides played out a 2-2 draw and we predict that history is going to repeat itself. As for the away team, Inter midfielder Nicolo Barella is back to the squad, while all Nicolo Rovella, Nicolo Savona, and Pietro Comuzzo earn their first call-ups.
Highlighted Player (Romelu Lukaku):
Romelu Lukaku Bolingoli, born on 13th of ay 1993 is a Belgian player with roots form Congo. Lukaku played for several youth teams before he got picked up by RSC Anderlecht. After playing for only 2 seasons for Anderlecht Chelsea picked him up for around12 million euro.
Lukaku was never able to get a spot in the starting eleven of Chelsea and after playing for WBA he moved to Everton for approximately 35 million euro.Lukaku made his debut in February 2010 by the age of 16 and is one of the youngest players that player for the highest Belgian national team.
The biggest achievement of Lukakui is winning the Eerste klasse in Belgium and the English FA Cup. With his strength and goal scoring abilities Lukaku can be considered as one of the deadliest strikers of the world. Nicknames for Lukaku are Big Rom and the Tank.
Highlighted Team (Italy):
With four World Cup titles and one European Championship trophy, Italy remain one of world’s most successful teams and they have also finished as runners up at major tournaments on four occasions. The Azzurri have become famous for their result oriented football over the years which is perfectly suited for World Cup and Euro finals, so it is now a surprise when they fail to reach the final stages.
After winning the second and third edition of the World Cup, Italy endured a difficult period until lifting their first European Championship title in 1968, while they also managed to show some improvement at the turn of the century. While winning the 2006 World Cup in Germany, the Azzurri reached Euro finals in 2000 and 2012, and they are still regarded as one of the leading sides in Europe.
There have been too many high-profile players leaving their mark on the national team to count, but the likes of Paolo Maldini, Gianluigi Buffon, Fabio Cannavaro, Dino Zoff, Roberto Baggio, Luigi Riva and Alessandro Del Piero will go down as some of the most successful ones.