Italy

The tie of the round. Belgium may be without two of their key men for their meeting with Italy on Friday night. Both Kevin De Bruyne and Eden Hazard were forced off in their victory over Portugal in the last-16 stage and the pair are huge doubts for the game in Munich. Dries Mertens and Yannick Carrasco came on for De Bruyne and Hazard, respectively, and they are likely to start alongside Romelu Lukaku in Belgium’s front three should the pair fail to recover. Timothy Castagne broke his eye socket in Belgium’s opening game and will miss the rest of tournament, with Thomas Meunier continuing to deputise for the Leicester full-back. Despite the injuries in his squad, Roberto Martínez will be confident in the players at his disposal. Dedryck Boyata, Jason Denayer and Thomas Vermaelen have all started two of Belgium’s four games so far. Having looked solid in the 1-0 win over Portugal, Vermaelen is likely to get the nod alongside Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld in defence. Giorgio Chiellini was forced off during Italy’s 3-0 win over Switzerland in the group and has sat out of their wins over Wales and Austria. Italy are confident that the 36-year-old centre-back is ready to return and replace Francesco Acerbi. Alessandro Florenzi is also a doubt for Italy, who remain without Lorenzo Pellegrini. Federico Chiesa and Matteo Pessina came off the bench to score decisive goals against Austria on Saturday and the duo are pushing for starting spots against Belgium. Roberto Mancini could use Chiesa from the outset in place of Domenico Berardi on the right, but Pessina is unlikely to dislodge any of Marco Verratti, Jorginho or Nicolò Barella in the middle of the park. Prediction: Belgium 1-2 Italy