Italy strikes a blow in Paris and beats a faltering France in the Nations League

Italy stormed Paris on Friday with a prestigious 1-3 victory over a France that was very blurred, lacking ideas in attack and weak in defence, in the first match of Group A2 of the Nations League. France again showed the problems of the last Euro: the attack is not fluid and the addition of stars in the forward line creates some chances due to the accumulation of quality but not due to good play, while the defence is extremely fragile.

Mbappé, Dembélé or Griezmann They had a very discreet encounter, almost always suffocated by the rival defence. Deschamps gambled by starting the debutant Olise, one of the Olympic medallists called up for this international cycle, on the right wing, with Barcola on the left of the attack and Mbappé in the centre, with Griezmann playing as a playmaker.

Among the Italians, Tonali made his comeback at international level after returning to official football at the end of August after his suspension for illegal betting was completed.

And France came out on top, with Barcola scoring after 13 seconds, the quickest goal in the history of the ‘Bleus’. The Paris Saint Germain winger took advantage of a terrible mistake by Di Lorenzo on a back ball to steal the ball from him and face Donnarumma, who he fired past with an impeccable finish.

Mbappé and Barcola continued to create danger in the following minutes, with the Real Madrid player testing the Italian goalkeeper and his former teammate at PSG. But it was Italy who could have equalised with a double headed chance in the fifth minute.

Frattesi’s first shot hit the crossbar and Retegui sent the rebound over the French goal. Although Italy pushed harder, Italy played as they always do, defending skillfully and not giving up on the counterattack, and so the equaliser came with a brilliant volley from Federico Dimarco, after a one-two with Tonali, which went into Maignan’s top corner.

The second half began with Italy controlling the slower pace of play in order to deny the French the ball and look for their chance. A loose ball by Fofana in midfield led to a quick Italian counterattack, with Retegui opening up on the right, who crossed into the heart of the area for Frattesi to finish unstoppably. With France bogged down in attack, Deschamps tried to find solutions and brought on Dembele for Olise and Koné (another debuting Olympic medallist) for the hesitant Fofana.

But it was Italy who came close to scoring again, with Frattesi’s header being saved by Maignan, who was too complacent to take a corner. France only had a couple of incisive runs from Dembele and Théo Hernandez, each on their own wing, although their crosses were blocked by the swarm of Italian defenders. Italy did not abandon their counterattacks and a good move by Udogie ended with a pass to Raspadori, who fooled the French defence with his control to find himself alone against Maignan and finish masterfully.

The goal was scored by the two replacements brought on by Spalletti. The score was 3-1 in the 74th minute and the Parc des Princes was left speechless, with France unable to find a way to overcome the Azzurri’s strong defence. Griezmann tried his luck with a shot that went just wide of Donnarumma’s right post. Deschamps again made changes to the bench with the introduction of Thuram and Zaïre-Emery, but France again showed the shortcomings it had in the last Euros: the accumulation of stars in attack does not make up for the lack of play and the defence at the back is made of glass.

EFE

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