Italy beat Türkiye 4-1 a week ago, and Kean and Arda Güler both miss the return in Bologna

Italy won 4-1 in Bursa a week ago, and on Monday night they get Türkiye again, this time at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara in Bologna. Kick-off is 8:45pm local time, which is 12:15am IST on Tuesday.

Roberto Mancini goes in without Moise Kean. The Como striker took a knock in Friday’s draw at the Stade de France, did not train on Sunday and was sent home. “Unfortunately Moise isn’t well, he couldn’t recover,” Mancini said. Gianluca Scamacca is expected to lead the line instead.

Montella is running out of players

Vincenzo Montella’s list of absentees is longer. Arda Güler is suspended after a stoppage-time booking in Friday’s 3-0 defeat to Belgium, and Barış Alper Yılmaz is banned too after being shown a yellow card on the bench in the same game. Montella’s own count at his press conference on Sunday also had Hakan Çalhanoğlu, Kenan Yıldız, Orkun Kökçü and Mert Müldür out. That is most of the side’s creativity gone, and he admitted he was short of a recognised striker as well.

Çalhanoğlu, Yıldız and Müldür were already missing in Bursa. Güler played that night, and Yılmaz scored Türkiye’s only goal, swept into an empty net two minutes after half-time. Without both of them, it is hard to see where the goals come from for a side that has one in three games.

Türkiye are new to League A and it has shown. They lost 1-0 to France, then 4-1 at home to Italy, then 3-0 to Belgium on Friday. Three games, no points.

Rotation after Saint-Denis

Italy come in on better terms. Their 1-1 draw at the Stade de France on Friday, with Alessandro Bastoni scoring and Gianluigi Donnarumma making seven saves, was a point Mancini called a step forward. It also came only three days ago, and he has said he will make changes.

“Clearly, it has only been two days since the last game, so something has to be different,” he said. He was just as clear about the opponent. “The biggest mistake we could make would be thinking tomorrow will be easy. We mustn’t underestimate Türkiye just because they lost to Belgium.”

Italian outlets expect Nicolò Barella to start in midfield and Antonio Vergara and Daniel Maldini either side of Scamacca. Donnarumma and Bastoni are set to keep their places.

What is at stake in Group 1

France top the group on seven points, Belgium have six and Italy four, and each side has two games left in November after this round. Only the top two go into the quarter-finals in March 2027, and France play Belgium at the Stade de France on the same night.

That makes Bologna a game Italy cannot treat as a formality. A win takes them to seven points and keeps them level with or ahead of one of the two sides above them, whatever happens in Saint-Denis. Anything less, against a weakened Türkiye, and the quarter-final race starts to get away from them.

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