The fourth edition of the UEFA Nations League has begun. The French national teams, the winners of the 2020/21 UEFA Nations League, and the Italians, the bronze medalists of the last two editions, faced off at the Parc des Princess. Fans of both teams were disappointed at the recent Euro 2024. The French lost in the semi-finals to the eventual tournament winner Spain, and the Italians, as the defending champions, lost in poor style to Switzerland in the 1/8 finals.
France started in the 13th second. Big hit for Italy
The match could have been special for Kylian Mbappe, who was to play his first international match at the PSG stadium since leaving the Parisian giants. However, it was not him, but the current player of the capital club – Bradley Barcola who opened the scoring.
He did it already… in the thirteenth second of the match. It was the Italians who started the match, but the French immediately started pressing. The winger got ahead of Giovanni Di Lorenzo, who didn't intercept the pass from his teammate and lost the ball. Barcola raced towards Donnarumma's goal and in a one-on-one situation didn't give him the slightest chance.
It seemed that the hosts would follow up, but the Italians managed to rise in the first half. After half an hour, they carried out a beautiful move that gave them the equalizer. It started with a cross pass by Andrea Cambiaso. Federico Dimarco took the ball and immediately passed it to Sandro Tonali. The Newcastle United midfielder passed it back to his partner, who was running into the penalty area, without receiving it.
Dimarco didn't hesitate and took a first-time shot. The strike was incredibly powerful and Mike Maignan had no chance to save it effectively. It was the third goal for the Inter player in national colours.
The goal scored had a positive effect on the Italians, who started to look better after a sluggish start to the match. The reward for their good performance was the first minutes of the second half. Giacomo Raspadori appeared on the pitch during the break and in the 51st minute sent a key pass to Mateo Retegui. The Italian striker acted as an assistant and played the ball into the penalty area. The ball passed the French defenders and was caught by Davide Frattesi, who was running into the penalty area. The midfielder beat Maignan on a slide and gave the visitors the lead.
The changes made by Didier Deschamps did not bring any effect. Neither Manu Kone nor Ousmane Dembele were able to change the complexion of the match, and what was worse – the hosts started making mistakes in defense. In the 74th minute, the carelessness of the defenders was exploited by Giacomo Raspadori, who added a goal to his second assist. The key pass for his goal was recorded by another substitute – Destiny Udogie.
A moment later, Antoine Griezmann came close to scoring. His shot from outside the penalty area narrowly missed the goal guarded by Donnarumma. Ultimately, the result of the match did not change. Although the Italians lost from the very beginning, they took three points from Paris. For the first time in 70 years, they defeated France on their own soil.
Both teams have one more match to play during their September training camp. On September 9, the French will play Belgium, and the Italians will play Israel. On Friday evening, in the second match of this group, the Belgians defeated Israel 3-1.
France 1:3 Italy (1:1)
Goals: Bradley Barcola'1 – Federico Dimarco'31, Davide Frattesi'51, Giacomo Raspadori'74
France: Maignan (gk) – Clauss (77'Kounde), Konate, Saliba, Hernandez – Y. Fofana (58'Kone), Kante (77'Zaire-Emery) – Griezmann (77'Thuram), Olise (58'Dembele), Barcola–Mbappe (k)
coach: Didier Deschamps
Italy: Donnarumma (gk) (k) – Di Lorenzo, Bastoni, Calafiori (71'Buongiorno) – Cambiaso, Frattesi (61'Udogie), Ricci, Tonali, Dimarco (81'Brescianini) – Pellegrini (46' Raspadori) – Retegui (81 'Kean)
coach: Luciano Spalletti
- Princess ParkParis
- judge: Sandro Schärer (Austria)
- yellow cards: Kone – Retegui