After their defeat by France, Belgium goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois said: “The match against Italy is pointless.

“Being third in the Nations League is pointless. I don’t know why we have to play that match. I'll take it as a friendly match."

Italy midfielder Jorginho said: "I'm not offended. The most important thing is how we approach the match, how he or Belgium approach the match doesn't really interest me."

The Italian national anthem isn't quite getting the 💯 treatment it did in the semis.

Italy boss Roberto Mancini: "We are on a beautiful journey and we must continue on it as long as possible.

"We have young boys who can play together for another five or six years.

"I was very proud the other night of what they did, both in the first half and in the second half: facing Spain with 10 men is the worst thing, but we managed to be compact and score goals. There was the risk of losing 4-0 or 5-0 and instead they were very good."

Both semi-finals were thrillers.

Belgium blew a 2-0 lead to lost 3-2 to France, who scored a last-minute winner.

Hosts Italy lost 2-1 to Spain to end their world-record 37-game unbeaten run.

More of the same this afternoon, please.

Image source, .

Image source, .

Italy make five changes, only one enforced.

Sassuolo forwards Giacomo Raspadori and Domenico Berardi, Lazio defender Francesco Acerbi, Juventus midfielder Manuel Locatelli and Roma's Lorenzo Pellegrini come in.

Leonardo Bonucci is suspended so misses out, while Jorginho, Marco Verratti, Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Bernardeschi drop to the bench.

Belgium's Romelu Lukaku and Eden Hazard are injured - and Kevin de Bruyne is on the bench.

Alexis Saelemaekers, Hans Vanaken and Michy Batshuayi take their places.

Italy XI: Donnarumma, Di Lorenzo, Acerbi, Bastoni, Emerson, Barella, Locatelli, Pellegrini, Berardi, Raspadori, Chiesa.

Belgium XI: Courtois, Alderweireld, Denayer, Vertonghen, Castagne, Witsel, Tielemans, Saelemaekers, Vanaken, Batshuayi, Carrasco.

Do we need a play-off between the two beaten Nations League semi-finalists? Perhaps not.

But this is a game between European champions Italy and the world's top-ranked team Belgium at Juventus' stadium - so this should actually be pretty good.

It's a Nations League third-place play-off :-(

But wait, it's a game between Italy and Belgium :-)