Full Time!

Cristiano Biraghi wins it for Italy in the 92nd minute, Poland are relegated in the inaugural season of the UEFA Nations League. Poland's defensive approach almost paid off, but Italy score on their 17th shot of the match.

14 October 2018 9:39 PM BST

GOAL! 1-0 Italy! Cristiano Biraghi surely wins it for Italy with his first international goal!

The corner paid off, the ball was headed down on the near post, squared across the box, Biraghi runs in on the far post and scores.

14 October 2018 9:37 PM BST

91' A late corner for Italy.

14 October 2018 9:35 PM BST

90' Three added minutes as Poland receive a free kick and Glik has his shot within the box saved by Donnaruma.

14 October 2018 9:34 PM BST

89' Polish fans are now booing the referee, as the foul on Blaszczykowski went unpunished, but he blew the whistle for an attacking foul by Milik.

14 October 2018 9:33 PM BST

87' Italy were building up the play for the past 2-3 minutes, results in a goal kick. Poland make their final substitution. Adam Jedrzejczyk replaces Arkadiusz Reca. Polish fans are booing as they probably wanted to see Piatek on. 

14 October 2018 9:31 PM BST

85' Lasagna is played through by Insigne but is offside.

14 October 2018 9:29 PM BST

80' Federico Bernardeschi is coming off for Kevin Lasagna, who is making his international debut. Krysztof Piatek remains on the bench.

14 October 2018 9:24 PM BST

80' As we enter the final 10 minutes, just a reminder that the loser of this game would be relegated, and a draw would ensure Portugal finishing first.

14 October 2018 9:23 PM BST

76' Another chance, another miss for Italy after some poor playing out of the back by Poland's defence. Bernardeschi gets the ball, runs it onto his left, and misses over the bar from 20 yards out, their 14th shot.

14 October 2018 9:21 PM BST

73' Biggest chance of the game for Poland! 3-on-2 counter attack, Lewandowski plays in Grosicki whose shot is saved by Donnaruma, Milik takes a great first touch to take the rebound away from Chiellini, and his shot goes over the bar as he slips.

14 October 2018 9:18 PM BST

72' Poland play a free kick, Grosicki overplays the cross and wastes a potential chance.

14 October 2018 9:16 PM BST

71' Chiesa crosses in to Bernardeschi, who gets a free header from six yards out and misses wide. Italy get chance after chance, but cannot find a finish to save their lives.

14 October 2018 9:15 PM BST

67' Florenzi runs away from Blaszczykowski with a perfectly-timed run, receives the ball in the box, but his first touch lets him down and Poland clear.

14 October 2018 9:12 PM BST

65' Italy get another opportunity, Veratti gets into the box with a one-two, plays Insigne through on goal, who squares to Chiesa, who scores, but Insigne was offside.

14 October 2018 9:09 PM BST

63' Poland break again with Milik sending Grosicki forward who puts in the cross, but Lewandowski didn't get into the box fast enough.

14 October 2018 9:07 PM BST

60' A terrible goal kick by Szczesny gifts Italy a throw-in.

14 October 2018 9:03 PM BST

58' An incredible chance for Poland! Zielinski finds Grosicki with a great long ball, good shot by the Polish winger is saved by Donnaruma, but Italy make a mess of the clearance and the play is ended by Zielinski's shot over the bar.

14 October 2018 9:02 PM BST

57' Jorginho plays a solid ball in, Glik does very well to keep it away from Insigne through an acrobatic clearance.

14 October 2018 9:00 PM BST

54' Solid move by Poland. Bednarek trotted into the opposition half, played the ball to Blaszczykowski, who flicked it on to Reca. Reca's cross was claimed by Donnaruma.

14 October 2018 8:58 PM BST

51' Poland did make two changes at halftime, bringing on Jakub Blaszczykowski and Kamil Grosicki for Karol Linetty and Damian Szymanski. It's an offensive-minded change that should bring some more width to Poland's game.

14 October 2018 8:56 PM BST

50' Not much has gone on in this second half so far, Poland do seem more active though.

14 October 2018 8:54 PM BST

The second half has kicked off, still 0-0.

14 October 2018 8:50 PM BST

Halftime

No added time in the first half, Poland and Italy will go into their dressing rooms at 0-0. Poland have shown that they are clearly comfortable with taking a more defensive and counterattacking position in this game, despite playing at home. They have had just one counter-attacking move that yielded a shot, but even that one was deflected. Italy, on the other hand, are unlucky to not have scored, hitting the crossbar twice, and stretching Szceszny on four occasions. Italy's nine shots without a goal in the first half highlight their lack of a traditional, clinical striker in their ranks.

14 October 2018 8:37 PM BST

44' A stunning move by Italy! Insigne is played through into the box, stops the ball with a backheel flick, Florenzi runs onto it, and his shot is stopped well by Szczesny.

14 October 2018 8:32 PM BST

42' A nice long ball over to Bereszynski on the right flank, but the right-back was offside.

14 October 2018 8:29 PM BST

36' Szczesny pulls out a great save! Chiellini's header took a bounce and almost caught out the Polish keeper, who took a while to get moving on the save.

14 October 2018 8:24 PM BST

33' Jorginho comes charging into the box, shot saved by Szczesny. Insigne was winding up for the rebound, but the ball was cleared and Poland were away on the counter. 3 Polish players against 5 Italians in the box, Lewandowski played the ball in, Milik chested it down, took a shot with his left, which was deflected over the bar. The most exciting minute of the match!

14 October 2018 8:22 PM BST

31' Jorginho picks up the first booking of the game. The foul did not quite warrant a yellow, but the midfielder was lucky to not pick it up earlier.

14 October 2018 8:20 PM BST

31' Jorginho picks up the first booking of the game. The foul did not quite warrant a yellow, but the midfielder was lucky to not pick it up earlier.

14 October 2018 8:20 PM BST

31' Jorginho picks up the first booking of the game. The foul did not quite warrant a yellow, but the midfielder was lucky to not pick it up earlier.

14 October 2018 8:20 PM BST

30' Italy denied by the bar once again! Chiesa plays through Insigne and he hits the crossbar as he slides into the ball.

14 October 2018 8:18 PM BST

26' Bonucci tries to catch out Szczesny with a shot from the halfway line, but the ball sails off target.

14 October 2018 8:13 PM BST

23' Bernardeschi takes a shot on the turn from inside the box, doesn't get near the target.

14 October 2018 8:11 PM BST

22' Italy give away the ball at the halfway line, Lewandowski tries to play through Linetty, but the pass is inaccurate.

14 October 2018 8:10 PM BST

18' Poland with another promising counter, but Szymanski overplays the cross.

14 October 2018 8:06 PM BST

17' Reca stays down after contact with Florenzi and the game is stopped.

14 October 2018 8:04 PM BST

15' Milik comes charging on the counterattack, Barella takes him down and is quite surprisingly not booked.

14 October 2018 8:03 PM BST

14' Italy have emerged as the more dominant team in this first quarter of and hour, outshooting Poland 3-0, controlling 68% of the possession and completing 124 passes to Poland's 45.

14 October 2018 8:02 PM BST

12' Bernardeschi comes charging down the right, half-cross, half-shot into the box. Szczesny punched it out, bounced to Florenzi on the edge of the box, and luckily for Poland, his shot was blocked.

14 October 2018 8:00 PM BST

9' A gap in defence from Poland, Glik has to slide in and clear the ball before Insigne and Szczesny fight for it.

14 October 2018 7:57 PM BST

8' Insigne finds himself with the ball at his feet on the edge of the box, decides to try and chip Szczesny. The ball flies over the bar, but the Polish keeper seemed to have it covered.

14 October 2018 7:56 PM BST

6' An open game so far between these two sides, almost impossible to predict at this point.

14 October 2018 7:53 PM BST

5' Bereszynski tries to cross, Italy clear.

14 October 2018 7:53 PM BST

2' Poland try a long throw into the box to find Glik, but it's a goal kick.

14 October 2018 7:50 PM BST

1' A solid attempt by Italy, Jorginho's shot beat Szczesny but was stopped by the crossbar.

14 October 2018 7:49 PM BST

And the match has kicked off!

14 October 2018 7:48 PM BST

Italy XI (4-3-3): Gianluigi Donnaruma - Adam Florenzi, Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini, Cristiano Biraghi - Marco Veratti, Jorginho, Nicolo Barella - Federico Bernardeschi, Lorenzo Insigne, Federico Chiesa.

14 October 2018 7:15 PM BST

A few surprises in the Polish team, as both Piatek and Blaszczykowski are left on the bench despite scoring against Portugal. 

14 October 2018 7:12 PM BST

A few surprises in the Polish team, as both Piatek and Blaszczykowski are left on the bench despite scoring against Portugal. 

14 October 2018 7:12 PM BST

Poland XI (4-3-1-2): Wojciech Szczesny - Bartosz Bereszynski, Kamil Glik, Jan Bednarek, Arkadiusz Reca - Damian Szymanski, Jacek Goralski, Karol Linetty - Piotr Zielinski - Arkadiusz Milik, Robert Lewandowski.

14 October 2018 7:09 PM BST

The team news are out!

14 October 2018 7:06 PM BST

Italy's Predicted XI: Gianluigi Donnaruma - Adam Florenzi, Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini, Cristiano Biraghi - Marco Veratti, Jorginho, Giacomo Bonaventura - Federico Bernardeschi, Lorenzo Insigne, Federico Chiesa.

13 October 2018 11:33 PM BST

Poland's Predicted XI: Wojciech Szczesny - Bartosz Bereszynski, Kamil Glik, Jan Bednarek, Adam Jedrzejczyk - Grzegorz Krychowiak - Jakub Blaszczykowski, Piotr Zielinski, Rafal Kurzawa - Robert Lewandowski, Krysztof Piatek.

13 October 2018 11:27 PM BST

In the reverse fixture in Italy, the two teams played out a 1-1 draw, with Piotr Zielinski and Jorginho scoring the goals.

13 October 2018 11:22 PM BST

In the reverse fixture in Italy, the two teams played out a 1-1 draw, with Piotr Zielinski and Jorginho ​scoring the goals.

13 October 2018 11:22 PM BST

Italy have taken a 1-0 loss to Portugal and a 1-1 draw with Ukraine, not coming into this match in good form.

13 October 2018 11:16 PM BST

Poland's strongest position is definitely striker, where they not only have elite forward  Robert Lewandowski, they also have Serie A's top scorer and the revelation of the season so far, Krysztof Piatek. Napoli's Arkadiuz Milik does not even get into the team.

13 October 2018 11:03 PM BST

On Thursday, Poland lost to Portugal 2-3 in Chorzow, where they will now face Italy just three days later.

13 October 2018 9:59 PM BST

In A3, Portugal are on 6 points, essentially locked down the top spot, while Poland and Italy are on 1 point each, fighting for relegation.

13 October 2018 9:56 PM BST

Both nations are looking for redemption after the World Cup. Poland finished last in the wide-open Group H and Italy failed to qualify at all.

13 October 2018 9:48 PM BST


Welcome to our live commentary
Hello and welcome to VAVEL UK’s live text commentary of this weekend’s UEFA Nations League fixture between Poland and Italy, hosted by Jakub Bobro. This is the place to make sure you stay up-to-date with all news relevant to Sunday’s game; including team news, manager quotes and statistics.
 

11 October 2018 6:26 PM BST