Italy have improved drastically over the past few years under the tutelage of Roberto Mancini, and look to have peaked at the right time.

They face a Turkey team in the Euro 2020 opener team who are also on the up, meaning this curtain raiser is set to be an intriguing encounter.

Kick-off time: 20:00 BST, Friday

TV channel: BBC One

Venue: Stadio Olimpico - Rome, Italy

Turkey are ones to watch

Heading into the tournament, Tukey have been touted as many people’s dark horses for the competition, and it is easy to see why.

Şenol Güneş’s side finished second in qualifying behind France, but did beat and draw with Les Bleus in their two head-to-head meetings on their way to conceding just three times in 10 games.

Disappointingly, they followed that success up with a bottom place finish in their Nations League B group, drawing too many games, but have since turned a positive corner again.

They trounced both the Netherlands (4-2) and Norway (3-0) in World Cup qualifying and head to the Euros on a six-game unbeaten run.

Ay-Yıldızlılar boast some really talented players, especially down the spine of their side, with Leicester’s Çağlar Söyüncü, Fenerbache’s Ozan Tufan, AC Milan’s Hakan Çalhanoğlu and Lille’s title winning hero Burak Yilmaz Turkey’s shining lights.

But, despite goals flowing post-Euro qualifying, I expect them to return to a more defensive approach here that has served them so well.

Gli Azzuri on a roll

In what is set to be a very tight Group A, Italy do appear to be the standout team.

They were utterly dominant in qualifying, winning 10 out of 10 in an admittedly weak group, but their Expected Goals (xG) process throughout was excellent (3.10 xGF and 0.91 xGA per game).

Roberto Mancini’s charges are unbeaten in 27 international matches ever since losing to Portugal in September of 2018 in the Nations League, highlighting their resurgence.