Broadcast info
Who's playing: Tied on points at the top of their group with Spain, Italy will hope to continue their unbeaten record so far in qualifiers as they take on Albania in Sicily on Friday evening.
What time: Friday, March 24th at 12:45 PST/15:45 EST/19:45 GMT/20:45 CET
What stadium: This game will be played at the Stadio Renzo Barbera. Previously known as the Stadio La Favorita, it's located in Palermo, where it serves as the home of Serie A side Palermo and seats up to 36,349 fans.
Which channel:
- In the USA: Fox Sports 2 USA, Fox Soccer 2GO USA, Fox Sports GO, fuboTV, FOX Deportes
- In Italy: RAI Uno
- In Albania: TVSH 2, SuperSport 2 Digitalb
- In the UK: Sky Sports Red Button, SKY GO Extra, Sky Go UK
- In Canada: Sportsnet World Now, Sportsnet One
*View up-to-date broadcast listings
Match Facts & Stats
- Italy haven’t conceded in their last two outings, while Albania have conceded five goals in their last two
- Albania have only managed to score 4 goals in their 4 outings in the campaign
- The Azzurri are unbeaten in their last five games since losing 3-1 to France in September (two draws, three wins)
- Andrea Belotti has scored three, whilst Ciro Immobile has scored four. Between the two of them, they have contributed to seven out of Italy's 11 goals so far
- This will be the 1000th senior match for skipper Gianluigi Buffon
Can Italy mark Buffon's special milestone with a win?
Italy
Considering his long-serving career, it's no surprise that the evergreen Gianluigi Buffon is on the cusp of another huge milestone. Tonight's game will see the 39-year-old shot-stopper reach a millennium of senior matches and despite his advancing years, he appears to be showing no signs of slowing down. Having won the World Cup in 2006 and nine Scudetti with Juventus (two of which were revoked due to the Calciopoli scandal) he's hoping to help steer Italy to the World Cup once again after the team's poor showing at the 2014 edition.
Given that the Azzurri are locked in a tight race for top spot with Spain, each and every single point will count between now and the end of qualifying. Expect Gian Piero Ventura to go with both Lazio's Ciro Immobile and Torino's Andrea Belotti - who have scored four and three goals respectively - up front as goal differential could make the difference between who automatically qualifies and who has to go through the play-offs.
There are some notable absences, namely Juventus duo Giorgio Chiellini and Claudio Marchisio, and Mario Balotelli still has not worked his way back into the international fold despite a decent campaign with Nice this season. Southampton's Manolo Gabbiadini is another who misses out due to an injury sustained during his team's loss to Tottenham recently. All in all, Italy will want to put as much pressure on Albania as possible as they seek to win in a convincing fashion in front of their home fans.
Albania
Albania, however are a side who don't score much, but they don't concede a lot either, with four goals scored and six conceded so far. They have a tendency to keep things really tight due to 4-1-4-1 formation used by Italian tactician Gianni de Biasi, who led them to feature in their first ever major international tournament at the EUROs last summer.
However, their World Cup qualifying campaign has been quite disappointing. They come into this game having lost 3-0 to Israel, and the defeat has cost them the services of two key players due to suspension: Etrit Berisha and Berat Djimsiti. In addition, defender Mergim Mavraj is out as a result of injury, and de Biasi will hope that some of his players who ply their trades in Serie A will be able to stifle their colleagues. This match could see Torino's Arlind Ajeti pitted against teammate Belotti and Napoli's Elseid Hysaj versus Lorenzo Insigne.
Match details, result and original broadcast info
This match has ended. Below are the original Live broadcast details for this match.
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