Quarter-Finals preview: Battle-tested France stand in the way of fearless Italy

BERLIN (Germany) - The third Quarter-Final encounter at FIBA EuroBasket 2022 pits together two great basketball nations as France meet Italy for a place in the final four of the tournament.

It's not been a smooth ride for either side with bumps along the way, but both have found a way to survive. France have won the last four meetings between the two teams at EuroBasket, with Italy's last victory coming in 2003 which was the last time they won a medal in the tournament.

France were moments away from elimination in the Round of 16 before Rudy Gobert came to the rescue as they went on to beat Turkey 87-86 in overtime, while Italy pulled off a stunning result as they defeated Serbia 94-86.

France v Italy - Wednesday, 17:15 CET

Key Matchup: Will Italy be able to limit the impact of Rudy Gobert on the glass? His influence in the tournament has been growing and Gobert exploded for a big display in the win over Lithuania. Italy are undersized but saw Nicolo Melli take on the defensive matchup on Nikola Jokic in his stride with key stops in their Round of 16 matchup and will be expected to play a big role on both sides of the floor again.

X-Factor: Evan Fournier only has one game with 20+ points in the tournament so far with with 27 in an important win over Lithuania in the Group Phase. The 29-year-old has been kept below 40 percent from the field in every other game, but this could be the moment it clicks back into place for Les Bleus.

Stats Don't Lie: France turn the ball over more than any team in the competition at 15.8 per game, while Italy's average of 8.7 is only bettered by Spain as they also accumulate 9.3 steals per game. France only attempt 22.2 three-pointers per game, which is the second lowest average for all 24 teams that participated so expect an important battle inside.

They Said: 
"We have had three days to prepare. We have to be focused on this game. The goal is the gold medal, but it's one step at a time. We have a lot of work to do and that's what makes it beautiful, too. I think it's probably the best EuroBasket that I have seen in terms of the overall level." - Rudy Gobert, France

"France are a good team. We know them well. They were one of the top three to win this EuroBasket, but we showed [against Serbia] that we can play against anybody and we won't have any fear in facing them." - Marco Spissu, Italy

FIBA