The UEFA European Under-21 Championship has brought Italy plenty of joy over the years and they kick off their bid to win the tournament for a sixth time with a clash against Romania in Trnava.
Group A promises to be one of the most competitive at the finals, with fellow big guns Spain and hosts Slovakia also in the mix. Only two teams will advance to the quarter-finals and it will be interesting to see if home advantage can help the Slovaks knock out one of the big guns.
It's hard to see Romania making it through and it would be a surprise if they avoided propping up the group. But they won seven of their 10 qualifiers in topping a section that also included Finland and Switzerland so they will fancy their chances of causing a few upsets.
The Italians went unbeaten in their qualifying group, with six wins and four draws, so they head into the finals full of confidence.
The senior side are in disarray, with boss Luciano Spalletti told he was getting axed after a 3-0 World Cup qualifying loss in Norway that brought up a full house of bets for our man Mark.
But Italy's Under-21s are in a better state and should kick off their Euros bid with a win if they hit top form.
How the bookies view it: Italians off to a flier
Italy Under-21s are hot favourites for this group opener as BoyleSports price them at just 11/20. Romania look a little overpriced at 4/1 while the draw pays 14/5.
Head to head: Honours even
These sides have faced off three times before and there's nothing between them, with one win apiece and a draw. They last faced off four years ago and it was the Azzurri who came out on top with a 4-2 victory.
Players to watch: No doubting Tommaso
Francesco Pio Esposito was the main man for Italy in qualifying, netting six times, but misses the finals due to injury. Roma's Tommaso Baldazani scored four times in the qualifying group and looks decent value at 2/1 for a goal with Bet365.
Skipper Louis Munteanu is the shining light in Romania's squad and comes into the finals with his tail up after netting five times in the qualifiers. The Cluj striker looks a bit overpriced at 3/1 for anytime scorer.
Probable line-ups
Torino midfielder Cesare Casadei and Verona defender Diego Coppola have been with the senior squad and only rejoined the Under-21s on Tuesday so it will be interesting to see if they start here. Romania are without defender Alexandru Pantea but are otherwise at full strength.
Italy Under-21s: Desplanches, Zanotti, Pirola, Ghilardi, Coppola, Ndour, Casadei, Fabbian, Gnonto Baldanzi, Ambrosino.
Romania Under-21s: Sava, Borza, Ignat, Akdag, Amzar, Perinau, Grameni, Illie, Stoica, Munteanu, Popescu.
Anything else catch the eye?
Romania only drew a blank in one of their qualifiers and averaged over two goals a game while BTTS has landed in all three meetings of these nations at Under-21 level. So it bodes well for a decent game and combining BTTS with over 2.5 goals pays 7/5 at BoyleSports.
The first game at a finals can often take time to warm up as the teams size each other up. So it could pay to back most goals to come after the break at evens with BoyleSports.
The Italians have plenty of quality in their attack so the 6/4 on offer at the same firm for them to score in each half also looks decent.
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