Italy vs Moldova 08/10/20

08 October 2020

Italy and Moldova will lock horns at the Stadio Artemio Franchi in an international friendly fixture in contrasting circumstances.

Before last month’s international break, Italy had been enjoying a free-scoring form, netting over 1.5 goals in ten consecutive outings and winning each of them. But, despite bringing their unbeaten run to 16 (W13, D3) last time out, Roberto Mancini’s men have only managed to score one apiece in their previous two matches. It could change against a Moldova side they’ve scored 2+ goals against in three of four H2H meetings overall (W4). ‘Gli Azzurri’ have been a force to be reckoned with at home over the past four years, avoiding defeat in 21 consecutive games held on home soil since October 2019 (W12, D9). Remarkably, ‘La Nazionale’ have managed to shut out their visitors on the day on 12 of those occasions, conceding precisely once on the remaining nine.

As for the visitors, they take the field after losing nine of their last ten games (D1), seven of which saw them fail to get on the scoresheet. In turn, Moldova’s goal-scoring issues have witnessed the Engin Firat’s team draw a blank in seven of their previous eight road trips, losing each one of them. Half (four) of those eight defeats have come via the identical 1-0 scoreline. Moreover, going back to October 2017, Moldova have failed to find the back of the net in 13 of 17 away fixtures (W1, D3, L13). A trip to Italy may stir some painful memories too, considering both of their only previous visits to the country have yielded losses and a -4 goal differential (GF:1, GA:5).