What a night at the Parc des Princes!
The ghosts of Euro 2024 came to haunt Italy as the Azzurri conceded one goal just 14 seconds (!) after kicking off their Nations League campaign against France on Friday night. But then, Italy put themselves back on track and somehow conjured a sounding win, powered by goals from Federico Dimarco, Davide Frattesi, and Giacomo Raspadori.
The Azzurri had not beaten France in 16 years and had lost against Les Bleus in their last three encounters. It was a night to remember, and hopefully the first step toward rebuilding the trust in Luciano Spalletti’s Nazionale from the debris left by the disastrous European campaign. Now, Azzurri, please keep it up.
Spalletti lined up his side in a 3-5-1-1 fashion. He somehow reshaped his defensive line, moving Giovanni Di Lorenzo in a back three role alongside Alessandro Bastoni and Riccardo Calafiori. with Andrea Cambiaso and Dimarco deployed as wing-backs. In the midfield, the Tuscany-born coach welcomed back Sandro Tonali after he finished serving his betting ban and placed him between Inter’s Frattesi and Torino’s Samuele Ricci.
Upfront, Lorenzo Pellegrini was expected to link up with Mateo Retegui, but the partnership didn’t quite work.
The whole Parc des Princes singing La Marseillaise was an intense, touching introduction to the game. Then, action kicked off and things immediately took a bad turn for Italy. You would expect that they had learned something from the Euro disaster but it was a vain hope.
Frattesi’s first touch in the game was a back pass for Di Lorenzo but the Napoli stalwart was taken by surprise. Bradley Barcola couldn’t ask for anything better as he promptly dispossessed him of the ball and dashed into the Azzurri‘s box. When he fired it past Gianluigi Donnarumma, there were just fourteen seconds on the clock – less than it had taken for Nedim Bajrami to open the scoring in Italy’s debut game at Euro 2024. Talk about good starts.
Barcola’s early opener could have easily paved the way for the Azzurri‘s trip to Paris turning into a rout and, indeed, the first few minutes were an absolute nightmare for Spalletti’s band, with the PSG starlet and Kylian Mbappé continuing to wreak havoc from the left channel.
But Italy’s reaction finally came, fast and unexpected. Frattesi’s header from a Cambiaso suggestion on five minutes hit the crossbar but at least showed that there was some life in the Azzurri. Slowly but surely, Italy regained their composure and started to hold their own against an infinitely more technically gifted French side, despite committing many mistakes with even the most basic passes.
The reward was a fantastic goal that came on 30 minutes, courtesy of Dimarco. The 26-year-old Azzurri wing-back volleyed the ball home after brilliantly exchanging it with Tonali, who served him with a fine back heel pass. At half time, the score was 1-1 as the Azzurri seemed to have weathered France’s storm despite a nightmarish start.
Giacomo Raspadori came in for Pellegrini after the break. Spalletti was expecting a better entente between the Roma captain and Retegui, but Pellegrini’s only merit in the first half was kicking off the action that led to Frattesi hitting the crossbar.
Sending in Raspadori proved to be the right choice as, after squandering a good chance, the Napoli man promptly redeemed himself by putting his stamp on the proceedings that resulted in Italy’s second goal. With 51 minutes on the clock, Milan’s new signing Youssuf Fofana lost the ball at midfield as Frattesi triggered Italy’s counterattack and served Raspadori.
The Neapolitan’s progression along France’s defensive half ended with a fine pass for Retegui, whose service for Frattesi in the middle of the box was turned into Italy’s second by the Inter midfielder. Frattesi came close to finding the net again on 59 minutes but was denied by Mike Maignan, who had to go above and beyond to push his header off target.
But the Azzurri were now surprisingly in control, despite two injuries picked up by Frattesi himself and by Calafiori and the multiple substitutions operated by a puzzled Didier Deschamps: The French gaffer sent in Manu Koné and Ousmane Dembélé, eventually also adding Inter’s Marcus Thuram a few minutes later, together with Jules Koundé and Warren Zaïre-Emery.
On the other hand, Spalletti’s changes had much more of an impact. Destiny Udogie, in particular, embellished his comeback with the Azzurri with a brilliant assist for Raspadori, who dashed past William Saliba and slotted the ball past Maignan, making it 3-1 for Italy on 72 minutes.
Italy didn’t risk conceding in the last 20 minutes as Les Bleus appeared to have no fuel left in the tank. The Azzurri treated themselves and their fans with a phenomenal night at the Parc des Princes. And, we all needed it so much.
MATCH SCORECARD
September 6, 2024 – Nations League
FRANCE – ITALY 1-3
SCORERS: 1′ Barcola (F), 30′ Dimarco (I), 51′ Frattesi (I), 74′ Raspadori (I)
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FRANCE (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Clauss (77′ Koundé), Konaté, Saliba, T. Hernandez; Fofana (58′ Koné), Kanté (77′ Zaire-Emery); Griezmann (77′ M. Thuram), Olise (58′ Dembélé), Barcola; Mbappé (Samba, Areola, Digne, Upamecano, Guendouzi, Kolo Muani) Coach: Deschamps |
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ITALY (3-5-1-1): Donnarumma; Di Lorenzo, Bastoni, Calafiori (71′ Buongiorno); Cambiaso, Frattesi (61′ Udogie), Tonali, Ricci, Dimarco (80′ Brescianini); Pellegrini (46′ Raspadori); Retegui (81′ Kean) (Vicario, Meret, Gatti, Okoli, Bellanova, Fagioli, Zaccagni) Coach: Spalletti |
REFEREE: Mr. Scharer (Switzerland)
NOTES: Yellow Cards: Koné (F), Retegui (I); Added Time: 1st Half 0′, 2nd Half 5′