Italy v Malta background

Italy will be eager to keep up the pressure on Group H leaders Croatia as they play host to their Mediterranean neighbours Malta in UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying.

Previous meetings
• Italy won 1-0 in Malta in the sides' first Group H meeting on 13 October – Graziano Pellè (24) scoring the winner on his debut. It was a noble defeat for Malta, given that their captain Michael Mifsud was dismissed on 28 minutes, though Leonardo Bonucci's 73rd-minute red card eventually evened up the numbers.

• Italy have won all seven of their matches against Malta, with an aggregate score of 20-2.

• The nations also met in 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying, Italy prevailing 2-0 home and away.

• Malta have not scored against Italy in three meetings since a Carmel Busuttil penalty 68 minutes into a 6-1 World Cup qualifying defeat in March 1993.

Disciplinary
• Matteo Darmian and Ciro Immobile are both a yellow card away from a one-game ban.

• Malta's Andrei Agius, Jonathan Caruana and Paul Fenech are all a booking away from a suspension.

Form guide
• Italy won their first three Group H games, but have drawn the last three: 1-1, 2-2 and 1-1 in Croatia in their last fixture.

• Italy are unbeaten in 46 qualifying games (W33 D13) since a 3-1 defeat in France on 6 December 2006.

• Malta's only Group H goal so far was a Clayton Failla penalty in a 1-1 draw with Bulgaria in Sofia. They have lost their other five fixtures in the section without scoring.

• Malta are without a win in ten competitive fixtures (D1 L9) since a 1-0 World Cup qualifying victory in Armenia on 7 June 2013.

Trivia and links
• Malta's Italian coach Pietro Ghedin is in his second spell in charge on the island. The one-time SS Lazio defender led Malta from 1993 to 1995, and was then assistant coach of Italy (1996–2004, working under Cesare Maldini, Dino Zoff and Giovanni Trapattoni) and coach of the Italian national women's team (2005–12) before returning to Malta in 2012.

• Italy coach Antonio Conte played for the Azzurri during Ghedin's time on the staff.

• Malta's 21 encounters with Italian sides in UEFA age-group competitions have all been won by Italy.

• Eight UEFA club competition meetings between Maltese and Italian clubs have produced eight Italian wins – and an aggregate score of 33-2.

• Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon became the first player to make 50 UEFA European Championship appearances when he started the 1-1 draw against Croatia in June.