- 1 Turkey vs Italy: Montella and Mancini are already into their second Group A1 test
- 2 Turkey: a fresh World Cup letdown for Montella
- 3 Italy: Mancini brings back the Euro-winning core
- 4 Football Prediction Turkey vs Italy
- 5 First, a word on our free predictions
- 6 No commitment from us
- 7 Information that changes
- 8 Your role
- 9 Responsible gambling first
- 10 Legal age
- 11 About the images…
Turkey vs Italy: Montella and Mancini are already into their second Group A1 test 
Turkey host Italy on Monday, 28 September at 20:45, at the Ataturk Spor Kompleksi in Bursa, in the second round of Group A1 in the Nations League.
The group also includes France and Belgium, who meet the same night in Brussels, in a six-match format where even the slightest slip can hurt badly.
Turkey opened their group on 25 September at home against France, in Kocaeli, for Zinedine Zidane’s first match in charge of Les Bleus.
Italy, meanwhile, hosted Belgium that same night in Rome, for Roberto Mancini’s first game back on the Azzurri bench since returning at the end of July.
So both sides are straight back into another meeting just three days after their opening fixtures.
The format still carries real weight: the top two in the group go through to the quarter-finals in March 2027, the third-placed side goes into a playoff and the bottom team drops straight into League B.
Neither side arrives here with much breathing room in World Cup 2026 qualifying, which gives this one the feel of an early chance to make up for lost ground.
Italy are no strangers to this competition. Under Mancini, the Azzurri finished third in the 2021 edition, beating the Netherlands in the third-place playoff.
Turkey, by contrast, come into League A with a more recent status, earned on the pitch in previous editions rather than handed down by a long history at the top level in Europe.
That difference in experience in the competition itself adds to the contrast in summer form between the two sides ahead of this trip to Bursa.
Turkey: a fresh World Cup letdown for Montella 
Turkey played at their first World Cup in 24 years this summer, and the return to the big stage was over almost as soon as it began.
A 2-0 defeat to Australia, then a 1-0 loss to Paraguay: Turkey were the first side mathematically eliminated from the tournament, before even facing hosts the United States.
The issue was not chance creation. Across those two games, Turkey managed 62 shots and scored none, with only 12 on target.
Vincenzo Montella summed it up bluntly after the disaster: “We had 62 shots in 2 games. But the ball won’t go in. We create chances, it doesn’t work. The other team comes once, and it’s a goal.”
Captain Hakan Calhanoglu echoed that mood: “Football can be ruthless at times. We gave everything but it wasn’t enough.”
For this September camp, Montella has called up 29 players and says he wants a mix of senior figures and rising names, with four debutants including Bartug Elmaz, a former Marseille player.
Arda Guler and Kerem Akturkoglu remain the best-known attacking reference points in a squad that first and foremost needs to rebuild its confidence in front of goal.
The Ataturk Spor Kompleksi in Bursa, well away from Istanbul’s usual stage, should provide a different backdrop for a side trying to kick-start momentum that has been stalled since June.
Rebuilding attacking confidence is the real job for Montella before anyone even talks about results, because the lack of finishing shown at the World Cup is still flashing red.
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Italy: Mancini brings back the Euro-winning core 
Roberto Mancini named an initial squad of 34 players, including nine who had never been called up before.
Among those newcomers are goalkeeper Massimo Pessina (Bologna), defender Daniele Ghilardi (AS Roma) and striker Sebastiano Esposito.
Nicolo Fagioli and Nicolo Zaniolo are also back, both absent from the national side since October 2024.
But the spine of the European champions is still there: Gianluigi Donnarumma, Alessandro Bastoni, Federico Dimarco, Nicolo Barella and Sandro Tonali are all in the group.
That triumph came at Euro 2020, when Mancini’s side beat England at Wembley, 1-1 after extra time and then 3-2 on penalties.
Italy have missed the last three World Cups, 2018, 2022 and 2026, a rare sight for a nation with this sort of pedigree.
This trip to Turkey sits within a pretty favourable run for Mancini: Belgium at home, then Turkey away, before hosting France and then facing the Turks again in Bologna on 5 October.
That double-header against Turkey in the same camp, on 28 September and then 5 October in Bologna, will carry real weight in the Group A1 picture ahead of the November fixtures.
Mancini’s return comes with an intentionally expanded squad, a sign he wants to widen the pool before 2027 rather than lean only on the core that won it in 2021.
Probable Turkey line-up: Not available at the time of publication.
Probable Italy line-up: Not available at the time of publication.
Football Prediction Turkey vs Italy
Our prediction: Italy will not lose in Bursa (double chance Italy or draw)
The Euro-winning spine named by Mancini, with Donnarumma, Bastoni, Dimarco, Barella and Tonali, is far more advanced than Turkey’s still-forming group under Montella.
Turkey’s finishing problem, laid bare by 62 shots and no goals at the World Cup, has not vanished in a few weeks and still hangs over their ability to turn pressure into points.
Four debutants in the Turkey squad, against an Azzurri group that mixes nine fresh faces with a core already crowned in 2021, leaves a clear experience gap in a match that matters right away in the standings.
Turkey’s early exit from the 2026 World Cup group stage only reinforces a cautious reading rather than a straight call on an away win for Italy.
The prospect of a second meeting on 5 October in Bologna also points to caution for this first leg in Bursa, with the Turkish crowd likely to drive their team forward.
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