The Stade de Suisse, Berne hosts the pick of the opening round of Euro 2008 fixtures where the Netherlands take on Italy in Group C. With Italy being the current world champions and the new-look Holland team wanting to finally make their mark on world football, many say this could be a warm up for the European Championship final. Whatever your thoughts on that we’re sure you’ll agree that this is the perfect match to take advantage of free bets from Betfair and Skybet. Holland has failed to beat the Azzurri in 8 games which span back 30 years! You have to go back to 1978 in Buenos Aires to find their last win against Italy, where they beat them 2-1 in the second group stage. The Dutch will still have a bitter taste in their mouths after losing on penalties after a 0-0 draw in the Euro 2000 semi-finals and then after being well beaten by three goals to one when the teams last met in November 2005. The Netherlands will want to prove that they have what it takes to repeat their Euro 1988 win and improve in their semi final finishes in 1992, 2000 and 2004. Is it worth betting against them this time around? With Ruud van Nistlerooy coming out of retirement goals should come easier than they did in qualifying where they only scored 15 in 12 games, although their defence was immense conceding only five goals!

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The Italians are playing in their 4th consecutive finals, this time as world champions, and you can bet they will be gunning for glory in this competition. They’ve not won the European Championships since 1968 but they came close in 1988 when they reached the semi-finals and closer still in 2000 where they defied the odds and reached the final only to concede a goal in injury-time and then a further goal in extra time to lose out to France. It is likely to be captain Fabio Cannavaro’s last major tournament, should he play, as he’s now 34 years old and the same goes for some of their other stars such as veteran striker Alessandro del Piero.In fact the Italian squad has the oldest average age of any of the squads named in Euro 2008.

The Italians certainly have the quality and experience to win this game and go on to win the entire tournament having named 14 players who were part of the 2006 World Cup winning squad. Both coaches have played together for AC Milan and faced each other for their respective international teams so both will know the mindset of each other. The same goes for the players, many of whom play together in the Italian and Spanish leagues and have faced each other in the European Champions League. With the managers and players knowing so much about each other the game should be open and attacking and perfect for placing bets on. Betfair and Skybet are offering free bets that can be used for this match but also to bet on any other game and outcome during the championships. Your free bets can be used on the first goalscorer, number of yellow or red cards issued, or the end result of the game to name but three betting options available.