On Monday evening Group B comes to a conclusion with Spain bidding to complete a perfect march into the last-16 while Italy and Croatia go head-to-head for the right to join them.
Albania, plucky in both games so far, may be pinning their hopes of a shock victory on Spain fielding a much-changed line-up in Dusseldorf but, even then, it's a tall order for the Balkan nation. Italy, meanwhile, will probably try and keep Croatia at arm's length.
- SPAIN TO WIN AND OVER 2.5 GOALS VS ALBANIA
- ITALY AND CROATIA UNDER 2.5 GOALS
Spanish Understudies Can Make A Mark
Spanish boss Luis de la Fuente is very likely to wring the changes for this dust down with Albania in Dusseldorf.
La Roja wasted no time booking a place in the last-16 with wins over Croatia and Italy, scoring four and conceding none.
Spain have been impressive, as good as any side so far. Their 2008-2012 golden era was famed for possession-based football, often to the detriment of actually scoring goals, it seemed.
Spain were happy to deal in what could be termed one-goal hammerings, with the opposition barely able to lay a glove on them from the limited possession they enjoyed.
Italy endured a night like that on Thursday, the Azzurri having to wait until the 87th minute for their sole effort on target. They did manage a decent 43 per-cent possession, but often it was in their own half. Albania will do well to match that figure.
They have been plucky so far but were fortunate not to concede more than two against Italy after conceding twice in five first-half minutes and, when they did succumb to Croatia, it was two in three minutes late on.
This Spanish side has much more attacking intent than past incarnations and they do it at pace. Like both previous Group B opponents, they could be capable of hitting the Albanians with a quick-fire one-two at some point.
Ayoze Perez might have scored twice after coming on against Italy, while Ferran Torres got just 25 minutes across the first two games and will look to shine if getting a chunk of game time now. Joselu, with five goals in 11 appearances is seizing his Indian summer after getting into the squad and, all told, even a much-changed Spanish side could run in a score against Albania.
SPAIN TO WIN AND OVER 2.5 GOALS
Azzurri To Do What They Know Best
It's Italy and Croatia in Leipzig with second spot in Group B on the line. Croatia's efforts at the last two World Cups - runners-up/semi-finalists - had them down as dark horses for this but a third group stage exit in their last six Euros is now staring them in the face.
They were outclassed by Spain before seeming set to get out of jail with a late turnaround against Albania, only for disaster to hit with the final play of the game.
With one point from two games, they likely must defeat Italy to extend their journey in Germany.
Pragmatic by their very footballing nature, this is the sort of test Italian teams thrive on. They created next to nothing against Spain in midweek and they lack a truly useful striker to get them out of trouble.
Worth recalling, they qualified ahead of Ukraine on a head-to-head tiebreaker, with 12 of their 16 goals scored against Malta and North Macedonia.
Free-flowing they are not, but Italy have made their history on shutting games down when they need to. Croatia are likely to run into an Azzurri wall. Don't expect goals to flow.
ITALY AND CROATIA UNDER 2.5 GOALS
