Italy v Croatia Betting Tips, Predictions and Preview

Saturday, 15 November, 2014 - 15:45 to Sunday, 16 November, 2014 - 21:45

Italy vs Croatia predictions and football betting tips for Sunday’s Euro 2016 qualifying match and the best free betting preview.

Come this time next year, you’d fully expect both Italy and Croatia to have qualified for Euro 2016 from a weak Group H. Both nations are on a maximum 9 points so far, though Italy did somewhat labour to their 2-1 win over Azerbaijan.

However, something has to give in the San Siro cauldron on Sunday and we’re not exactly expecting a love-in.

Plenty of away fans will have made the short trip across the Adriatic and will be as famously vocal as ever, adding to the naturally hostile atmosphere. Twin this with a decisive and reasonably card-happy referee in the form of Björn Kuipers and we may get tackles flying in on both sides. You can get 7/2 with Paddy Power that a penalty will be awarded and that’s our first betting tip.

But it’s goals that win football matches and we predict there’ll be a few. The majority of the strikers on show play in either the Premier League or Bundesliga, therefore a high tempo should prevail. Graziano Pellè and Mario Mandžukić have both made terrific starts at their new clubs and are currently among Europe’s best strikers. They are 12/5 and 5/2 respectively to score anytime.

In terms of a prevailing wind behind either team, the above tips do rather smack of hedging on action instead of a result. But playing in front of their tifosi really should pay off for an Italian side that hasn’t lost at home in a competitive fixture since 1999. Italy to win is 5/4 with William Hill and we are predicting they will come away with three points for our result tip.

Italy v Croatia Betting Tips

Penalty awarded – bet here at 7/2 with (new accounts bet £5 get £20)

Graziano Pellè and/or Mario Mandžukić to score anytime – bet on Pellè at 12/5 with , bet on Mandžukić at 5/2 with

Italy to win - 5/4 with (new accounts bet £10 get 2 free £10 bets).

Benfica – Monaco

A very interesting game here in the Champions League, for a lot of reasons. First of all Benfica have just 1 point after 3 games. However, they do not lack quality. Here is quick review of what happened and the results.


0-2 vs Zenit … They got a goal, than a red card very early into the game and lost 0-2, but it’s normal to lose if you start the game like this.

1-3 at Leverkusen. Jorge Jesus, Benfica’s coach had an incredibly stupid idea to rotate 3 of his starters … He said that his priority is the domestic league in Portugal … after the match he apologized to the press and the fans and promised this will not happen, he will not rotate for CL again.

Our friends at Tipsterscorner.com are writing free betting previews every day and are now bringing unique tips to Betdistrict as well. You can check them out for more tips.

Against Monaco they played a 0-0 result in France, but it was a good performance from Benfica, and again they got a red card, to Lisandro Lopez (who is not a regular anyway, Jardel is the regular if fit, and tonight he will start 90%).

Now Benfica really must win tonight if they want to have any chance to qualify. I think they have the weapons to do it … Salvio and Gaitan are brilliant on the wings and Talisca and Lima are very very good players. The defensive midfield pair will be Enzo Perez and Samaris (10 million eur transfer from Olimpiakos). The defense will have Luisao and Jardel at its core, the right back position is Maxi Perreira while the left back will see Benito(rotation player). So Benfica will have no important missing player, except Eliseu in the left-back position.

Monaco will miss their most important player, Berbatov. Monaco relied on defence until now winning 1-0 vs Leverkusen(Berbatov scored) and making 2 x 0-0 draws. Tonight they surely not leave with a clean sheet and i don’t think they will score without Dimitar so the most logical outcome is Benfica to win, @ odds 1.85 at Ladbrokes.

Pick: Benfica
Odds: 1.85