Facing Italy in the first day of the 2024-2025 Nations League, the French team, eliminated at the gates of the final during the last Euro, was back in school this Friday evening at the Parc des Princes. Organized in 4-2-3-1 with Ibrahima Konaté and William Saliba in the center of defense, the Blues could also count on their new kid, Michael Olise. In attack, Antoine Griezmann and Bradley Barcola accompanied Kylian Mbappé, alone at the forefront. For its part, the Nazionale presented itself in 3-5-2. Gianluigi Donnarumma started in goal, as did Lorenzo Pellegrini and Matteo Retegui, starting at the forefront. A clash that started with a bang.
Taking advantage of Giovanni Di Lorenzo’s laxity, Barcola emerged, accelerated and opened the scoring with a powerful strike (1-0, 1st). Showered after just 12 seconds of play, Italy tried to react and narrowly missed equalising in the process. On a good cross from the left side, Pellegrini headed it back to Frattesi but the latter, alone six metres out, saw his header hit Maignan’s crossbar. Continuing the action, Retegui also lacked precision (6th). Bothered by the liveliness of Barcola and Mbappé, the Italians also discovered the creativity of Olise, who scored a fine shot on target but was caught by Donnarumma (11th). Technically superior, Didier Deschamps’ men were nevertheless going to be surprised…
France has lost the thread
After an initial save by Maignan on a cross shot by Retegui (26th), the Squadra Azzurra equalized at the end of a sublime move. Found on the left side, Dimarco took advantage of a superb pass from Tonali and followed up with an unstoppable volley, into the opposite top corner of the French potter’s net (1-1, 30th). Surprised, the Blues stammered their football somewhat and relied on Barcola to create danger. Shifted to the edge of the area, the Parisian winger offered himself a nice number, but his shot, deflected, flirted with the Italian right post (39th). Pushed and hampered by a much sharper Italian selection, France was finally logically hanging on at the break. After the locker room, the Italians accelerated again.
At the end of a magnificent collective action, the new entrant Raspadori forgot to serve his teammate and saw his shot slowed down then caught by Maignan (48th). In the tough and dominated in midfield, the Blues ended up cracking. On a loss of ball by Fofana, Retegui, found on the right side, crossed perfectly for Frattesi who finished by tackling the leather (1-2, 51st). If Ousmane Dembélé and Manu Koné came into play, the Tricolores still could not do it. On a corner, Frattesi got the better of Clauss and forced Maignan to make a magnificent save (59th). At the start of the last quarter of an hour, Italy made the break. Served in the heart of the French defense, Raspadori got the better of Saliba and beat Maignan (1-3, 74th). In the final moments, Griezmann made his mark with a beautiful curling shot from the left (77th) but the score did not change. Disappointing, the French team missed its entry into the competition and will have to react against Belgium on Monday evening.
