Germany v Italy Tip

Italy impressed much of the British press in defeating England on penalties with one BBC writer describing it as a ‘0-0 thrashing,’ at least based on the statistics. But that victory will surely have come at a cost that may be borne out in the semi-finals.

The Azzurri were taken the distance on Sunday evening while Germany had their feet up long before the final whistle on Friday when they beat Greece 4-2. Cesare Prandelli has injury concerns over Giorgio Chiellini, Daniele De Rossi and Ignazio Abate while right-back Christian Maggio is also suspended for the Italians.

The contrast with his counterpart Joachim Low could hardly be more stark. The German boss has seen influential midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger declared fit and he has an embarrassment of riches elsewhere. Mario Gomez, Lukas Podolski and Thomas Mueller were all rested for the quarter-final and will be itching for recalls on Thursday.

Andre Schurrle, Marco Reus and Miroslav Klose all came in against the Greeks and the latter two found the net. At the very least the three-time champions will have a myriad of game-changing options if things aren’t going to plan.

But things typically do go to plan for a German side who have won an astonishing 15 competitive games on the bounce - a new world record, according to UEFA. With a statistic like that I see no reason not to take virtually evens money on them making it 16 in a row. BetVictor are currently offering market-leading odds of 19/20 on Low’s men winning in 90 minutes.