‘Not too many surprises’ – Gareth Southgate on facing Italy again in Euro 2024 qualification as draw is made

The Three Lions head coach was present at Sunday’s draw in Frankfurt, which saw Southgate’s team drawn alongside the Azzurri, Ukraine, North Macedonia and Malta in Group C.

England have a poor recent record against Roberto Mancini’s men, and have not defeated Italy in a competitive match since November 1977.

They were also beaten on penalties in last year’s European Championship final at Wembley, and failed to score in either of their two Nations League fixtures, losing 1-0 at the San Siro, a result which consigned Southgate’s men to relegation from League A.

“There are not too many surprises. They’ve changed the team a lot for all of those different matches,” Southgate told Sky Sports.

“We know the quality that they have, we know the depth that they have and England’s record against Italy generally is not very good so we’ve got to improve that.”

Aside from Italy, England will renew their acquaintance with Ukraine, after the two nations came head-to-head in their European Championship quarter-final held in Rome last year.

While Southgate’s side were comfortable 4-0 winners on the night, Ukraine were within one match of qualifying for this year’s World Cup and were unfortunate to lose 1-0 against Wales in their play-off final.

They also narrowly missed out on promotion to League A in the UEFA Nations League, as a goalless draw with Scotland consigned them to second place in the group.

Meanwhile, North Macedonia have improved their standing on the world stage in recent years after sensationally knocking Italy out of World Cup qualification with a stunning 1-0 play-off semi-final victory in March.

Malta, ranked 168th in the world, should be a more straightforward prospect for Southgate’s side.

The last meeting between the two nations came back in September 2017, as the Three Lions cruised to a 4-0 victory.

Commenting on the remaining teams in the group, Southgate added: “Well it’s clearly a tough draw given the quality of the opposition. But we’ve had draws in qualification that have probably been a little bit more comfortable than that.

“Although, I’d have to say, Poland and Hungary in the last qualifying group [for the World Cup] was particularly tough as well. So we’re used to that. The draws are what they are, it’s how you perform on the day.”

The top two teams from each group will qualify automatically for the finals held in Germany, while a further three teams will qualify via the Nations League play-offs.

Fixtures for the qualification groups will run from March 23 to November 21, 2023.