World Cup Qualifiers line-ups: Italy v Bulgaria
Italy face Bulgaria in the fourth game of Group C of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.
It kicks off at Florence’s Stadio Artemio Franchi at 20.45 local time, 19.45 in the UK. You can follow the match live here.
Roberto Mancini hasn’t rotated his squad much, but captain Giorgio Chiellini has to start on the bench as he isn’t 100 per cent fit yet and is expected to start against Switzerland on Sunday.
Leonardo Bonucci and Lazio defender Francesco Acerbi start at centre-back for the Azzurri with Alessandro Florenzi and Emerson Palmieri the designated full-backs.
World Cup Qualifiers live updates and result: Italy v Bulgaria
Nicolò Barella, Jorginho and Marco Verratti start in the middle of the park. That’s the same midfield picked by Mancini in the knock-out phase of the Euros this summer.
The same goes for the attacking trident with Federico Chiesa, Lorenzo Insigne and Lazio striker Ciro Immobile who had a great start to his Serie A campaign with four goals in the opening two games.
Italy v Bulgaria line-ups
Italy: Donnarumma; Florenzi; Acerbi, Bonucci, Emerson; Barella, Jorginho, Verratti; Chiesa, Immobile, Insigne
Bulgaria: Georgiev; A. Hristov, Antov, P. Hristov, Nedyalkov; Yomov, Kostadinov, Vitanov, Yankov; Despodov, A. Iliev