Italy-France 3-1 on the fifth day of the Nations League
GOALS and HIGHLIGHTS
ITALY-France 3-1 In the 75th minute Pio Esposito extends for the Azzurri on a penalty kick
ITALY-France 2-1 in the 63rd minute goal by Frattesi gives the Azzurri the lead
In the 60th minute Sebastiano Esposito misses a penalty
ITALY-France 1-1 The Azzurri equalized in the 26th minute with Pio Esposito
Italy- FRANCE 0-1 Olise unlocks the match in the 10th minute
A barrage of boos welcomed the Marseillaise team to the San Siro before Italy-France in the Nations League. A protest that was not appreciated by all the fans present in the stadium who responded with long applause until the end of the French anthem. Shortly before, an ovation from the entire stadium had accompanied a video on Franco Baresi and Sandro Mazzola, Italian legends who recently passed away.
Belgium wins in Türkiye 2-1, and temporarily rises to second place in group A1 of the Nations League, the same as Italy, behind France. In Izmir, Türkiye took the lead with a great goal from a free kick by Arda Guler in the 20th minute of the first half. Belgium reacts immediately, equalizing in the 27th minute with De Bruyne and overtaking in the 30th minute with De Ketalaere
THE EVE OF ITALY-FRANCE
Over 70 thousand spectators challenge the ghosts of the past. Italy takes the field at San Siro against France with the ambition of getting closer to first place in the Nations League group and putting a claim on qualification for the final phase, but with the obligation to forget the latest outings at the Scala del Calcio. Without bothering about the first World Cup disaster against Sweden in 2018, the Azzurri are coming off three consecutive defeats in Milan. But Roberto Mancini doesn't want to hear about taboos: "I won last time at San Siro. Against England, we were full of young players, so I have good memories. He hopes it ends like this again. It's wonderful to play against such strong teams, for something important."
The cabal doesn't help: Italy hasn't won at home against France since 1962, with a brace from Altafini. Mancini wasn't born yet. The San Siro effect, however, galvanizes Calafiori: "The full stadium will help us enough, we can't take France lightly. We'll need a lot of head and a lot of heart." But the Meazza, whose demolition has once again become a hot topic for Milanese politics after the deed that sold the stadium to Inter and Milan, is also often the scene of protests against captain Donnarumma. The Milan fans, in fact, do not forgive him for leaving on a free transfer to sign for Paris Saint Germain.
"He's a great goalkeeper, I don't think he deserves this after what happened years ago - Mancini's official defense -. We hope the fans come to the stadium to cheer." The objective is clear: "We are looking for confirmation and improvement, we have seven points in the standings and there are two games to qualify. A situation that was almost unexpected at the beginning." Italy, currently on seven points, still has two chances to qualify for the quarter-finals. A victory against the French would allow the Azzurri to join them at ten in group 1 of League A. The mentality must be to take to the pitch to win the result, regardless of the calculations, although qualification will be decided on Sunday against Belgium.
Mancini does not intend to hope to take advantage of France's many absences in attack - Thuram, Dembelè and Mbappé, whom Mancini had jokingly advised 'not to take risks' - and plays with the foreign press: "France has 5-6 forwards who are better than each other. If Olise gets a cold tonight it would still be fine". Even before the first leg, Mancini had joked about his opponents' ailments to underline the difference in quality between the two national teams. But today Italy is growing, also thanks to the 1-1 draw in Paris, with more solid certainties. "In the first leg we played a good match even if in some moments France put us there and Donnarumma saved us." The most experienced of the troop. But Mancini, as is his style, is also used to giving space to young players: "I'm also calling up a lot of them to understand if they can be useful to us in the future. The objective is to make them grow." The sense of urgency of the rebirth of the present thus mixes with the reconstruction of the future.
