Germany v Italy: Added rest can help Germans to end record

With almost a week surpassing since Germany’s last outing at Euro 2012, they will head into their semi-final refreshed and rejuvenated to beat Italy in 90 minutes at 17/20.

Germany have yet to beat the Italians, with draws the more prevalent results in their past meetings, but are still afforded 2/5 favouritism to advance by any means on Thursday night.

Such progression would see them make their second European championships final in succession, but Italy will aim to keep up their record by reaching the final at 7/4.

Those who do favour the Italians to go through could be better backing them to do so at that price, rather than the 7/2 for them to win in normal time, amidst their three draws from four games in Poland and Ukraine.

Another stalemate is 9/4 here, but it should be noted that Italy’s 120-plus minute outing with England will have taken its toll on their side, whilst Germany rested key players in beating Greece two days before the Italians’ match.

Joachim Low’s side’s success in that game came via a 4-2 scoreline, and with Germany being the top scorers in the tournament, they may be worth backing at 11/4 to win a game featuring three or more goals here.

Punters may also take note of Germany conceding in three of their four matches in this competition, and going on to win each one, making 4/1 odds about Germany to win a match where both teams score look immensely appealing.

Meanwhile, as aforementioned, Germany rested key players in their comfortable victory over Greece on Friday, and their usual attacking trio should be restored to the side for this match.

Mario Gomez was one of the omitted talents, and the striker looks good to add to his three Euro 2012 goals by scoring in a German win at 2/1 on Thursday.

Of his three contributory strikes towards a Golden Boot bid too, two were the first of the match, and so the Bayern Munich ace is worth a first scorer punt at tempting 5/1 odds.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.