12′ Referee Tschudi stops the game and insists Chiellini leaves the pitch temporarily to get treated for a bleeding nose. The Italian captain does so before returning moments later in a new shirt.
11′ The Azurri have secured 2-0 victories in all of their last five matches in all competitions.
10′ OVER! Immobile wanders towards the left of goal and Insigne pokes a low right-footed pass towards his team-mate. Immobile escapes the attentions of Brabec, however, he can only power a left-footed effort both high and wide of Pavlenka’s goal from inside the box.
9′ CHANCE! Barella knocks through the middle for the run of Insigne, who makes it into the area before being crowded out by two Czech defenders. If the Italian attacker was a bit quicker there he could have been one-on-one with Pavlenka but the chance goes amiss for the hosts.
8′ Krmencik runs towards the front post and Florenzi is forced into giving away the first corner of the game. Jankto takes the set-piece, however, Locatelli blocks well to avert any potential danger for the home side.
6′ Florenzi smashes through the back of Jankto and gives away a foul inside the Czech half on the left-hand side. Barella also stays down from an earlier tackle but gets up without requiring any further medical attention.
4′ The visitors have started well, with Jankto drilling another low cross across the face of goal. Donnarumma can’t get near to the winger’s ball in, however, Spinazzola hooks away a clearance at the far post.
3′ From the other flank this time, Jankto has tons of time to get his head up and cross towards the back post. Darida heads downwards but his effort is tame and trickles comfortably into the hands of Donnarumma.
2′ Masopust swings in a cross from the right-hand side but Donnarumma comes out with real authority to collect the ball in front of Krmencik.
1′ Referee Lionel Tschudi gets this friendly underway!
These two sides last met back in 2013 in the European qualifiers of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Italy won that affair 2-1, thanks to goals from Chiellini and Mario Balotelli.
Jaroslav Silhavy opts for five changes to his last team that faced Wales in March. Pavlenka replaces Vacklik in goal, while Soucek and the injured Tomas Holes drop out in midfield for Barak and Kral. Further forward, Krmencik starts instead of Schik and Masopust comes in for Lukas Provod.
Mancini changes his full starting line-up in the last of Italy’s friendlies. The hosts opt for experience with Bonucci and Chiellini at the back in front of Donnarumma. Up top, Insigne and Berardi join Immobile, in what looks to be Mancini’s probable line-up for the first game of the European Championships.
SUBS: Jakub Pesek, Petr Sevcik, Tomas Vaclik, Matej Vydra, Tomas Pekhart, Ales Mandous, Michal Sadilek, Ales Mateju, David Zima, Tomas Soucek, Patrik Schick, Pavel Kaderabek.
CZECH REPUBLIC (4-2-3-1): Jiri Pavlenka; Vladimir Coufal, Jakub Brabec, Ondrej Celustka, Jan Boril; Vladimir Darida, Alex Kral; Jakub Jankto, Antonin Barak, Lukas Masopust; Michael Krmencik.
SUBS: Bryan Cristante, Salvatore Sirigu, Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Federico Chiesa, Alex Meret, Andrea Belotti, Federico Bernardeschi, Matteo Pessina, Francesco Acerbi, Emerson, Rafael Toloi, Giacomo Raspadori.
ITALY (4-3-3): Gianluigi Donnarumma; Alessandro Florenzi, Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini, Leonardo Spinazzola; Nicolo Barella, Jorginho, Manuel Locatelli; Domenico Berardi, Lorenzo Insigne, Ciro Immobile.
This is Czech Republic’s first friendly since the end of the 2020-21 campaign. The visitors then face Albania in Prague next week before their group-stage clash with Scotland at Hampden Park. In World Cup qualifying action, results against Estonia and Belgium proved encouraging before a disappointing defeat to Wales.
After a 7-0 crushing of San Marino, Italy have one final fixture before the European Championships start. Roberto Mancini confirmed his final 26-man squad in midweek and will see this game as one final opportunity to evaluate his squad before the tournament starts.
Hello and welcome to live coverage of the international friendly between Italy and Czech Republic.
13′ Immobile needlessly fouls Masopust to the right-hand side of midfield and the visitors get a free-kick in a decent position. Jankto whips in the resulting set-piece but Donnarumma races out confidently to punch away the cross.