Italy U21 vs North Macedonia U21: prediction, head-to-head, and probable line-ups – 26 March 2026
In one of the European U21 Championship qualifiers, Italy U21 will host North Macedonia U21 at the Carlo Castellani Stadium. The hosts enter this clash as clear favorites, and on home soil, the Italians have every reason to expect a convincing victory.
Match preview
The Italian side is enjoying a high-quality qualification campaign and remains among the main contenders to advance from the group. In six matches, the team has secured five wins, losing only to Poland, and in all other games looked significantly superior to their opponents in terms of movement, intensity, and quality on the ball. The emphatic home thrashings of Armenia (5-1) and Sweden (4-0) were especially telling — in those matches, Italy simply overwhelmed their rivals with attacking volume.
Crucially, Italy U21 have been nearly flawless at home. They have won all three home fixtures in this qualifying campaign, netting 11 goals, while their attacking play has been aggressive and vertical. Yes, the hosts do have some personnel issues — several defenders and goalkeepers are unavailable — but squad depth allows them to maintain a high standard, and the gulf in class with the current North Macedonia side remains very pronounced.
North Macedonia, on the other hand, have struggled throughout this cycle and currently look like one of the group’s most vulnerable teams. After six matches, they have just one win and five defeats, and in most games, they’ve lacked not only quality but also resilience as the match wore on. Even when they managed to stay in the game, their structure quickly crumbled under serious pressure — this was especially evident in the 1-4 defeat to Sweden and the 0-3 loss to Poland.
The visitors’ main issue is defense and their inability to cope with the intensity of more organized opponents. North Macedonia have conceded 13 goals in six matches and lost both away games, allowing an average of three goals per match on the road. They already lost 0-1 at home to Italy in the reverse fixture, and now, away from home, the task looks even tougher, as the Italians play with a completely different level of confidence and pressure in front of their own fans.
Probable line-ups
- Italy U21: Palmizani, Fortini, Comuzzo, Mane, Bartezaghi, Pisilli, Lipani, Dagasso, Fini, Camarda, Cherubini
- North Macedonia U21: Vasilev, Danev, Dailovski, Meliki, Dzhekov, Angelov, Gashtarov, Zendelovski, Trajkov, Elezi, Hamza.
Match facts and head-to-head
- Italy have won five of six matches in this qualifying campaign, scoring 17 goals.
- North Macedonia have lost five of their six group matches and conceded 13 goals.
- In their first head-to-head meeting of this cycle, Italy won 1-0 away.
Prediction
By all key metrics, this is a match that tilts heavily in favor of the hosts. Italy boast a stronger squad, more stable results, and are especially dangerous at home, where they play at a high tempo and create plenty of chances. It will be extremely difficult for North Macedonia to withstand such pressure for the full 90 minutes, so the most logical outcome is an Italy win. As a bet, we recommend taking "Total over 3.0" goals.
