The UEFA Euro 2020 champions are on a journey to rediscovering their form after they missed out on the qualification to the Qatar FIFA World Cup and lost the Finalissima to their South American counterparts, Argentina in a 3-0 beating. The Qatar world cup will be the second successive global showpiece that they are left as spectators as they also failed t qualify for the 2018 edition in Russia. Calls are getting louder from some quarters who are now calling for the axing of head coach Roberto Mancini who had only less than a year ago been applauded for his stellar performance that led to Italy being crowned the champions of Europe. The 1-0 defeat suffered to North Macedonia will forever remain in the memory of the Italian people as the moment that denied them the ticket to go battle it out for their 5th World Cup title. As they go to face the 2014 World Cup champions, Germany tonight in their opening UEFA Nations League match, the Italians will be without their former captain and Juventus star Giorgio Chiellini who called it quits at the international stage having played 117 matches wearing the Italian jersey.

Germany go into the match with a lot of optimism under its new manager Hansi Flick who succeeded the World Cup-winning Joachim Low. The current manager is also the 2020 UEFA Champions League winner after leading Bayern Munich to victory against French powerhouse Paris Saint Germain. He is now overseeing an exciting crop of young players. The Germans are on a mission to reclaim their spot in the ‘big boys’ of the World football having exited the Euro 2020 in the round of 16 after being eliminated by eventual runners-up, England who lost to their tonight opponents, Italy following a dramatic penalty shoot-out.   

Both nations are aiming to top their Nations League group and thus tonight's match is expected to be a tough battle as the two try to outsmart each other's tactics. Both Italy and Germany boast of players in their squad who play for top-flight European teams and bring quality to the team. The German coach is on a mission to build a reputation that rivals that of his World Cup-winning predecessor while the Italian coach will be looking forward to prove that he is still the man who led his nation to European glory a year ago.