Slovenia covet Italy's top spot

Slovenia meet their neighbours from the west for a third time in UEFA European Championship qualifying looking to replace Italy at the top of UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying Group C.

Match background
• The sides met for the first time in a pair of EURO '96 qualifiers, with the first – in Maribor on 7 September 1994 – ending in a 1-1 draw. Fabrizio Ravanelli scored to give Italy a 1-0 win in the return fixture in Udine on 6 September 1995.

• Slovenia's record in five games against Italy reads W2 D1 L2 (W1 D1 L0 at home). All four meetings since their maiden encounter have been settled by a single goal – two 1-0 wins for each team.

• The countries last went head to head in qualifying for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Boštjan Cesar, now an AC Chievo Verona player, scored a late winner as Slovenia won 1-0 in Celje, but Cristian Zaccardo evened up the scores with the only goal in Palermo in their last encounter to date on 8 October 2005.

• Italy top Group C with ten points from their opening four games, with Slovenia lying second on seven points. A win would enable Slovenia to leapfrog the Azzurri at the summit.