New Delhi: Two heavyweights of European football faced one another in their UEFA Nations League fixture at the Parc des Princes in Paris, and right from the kickoff we knew we’d be in for a treat. Luciano Spalletti’s men came from behind to record Italy’s first win in Paris in over 70 years, doing so in convincing fashion. The game had just begun and Italy captain Gianluigi Donnarumma was picking the ball out of his net after France had scored the fastest goal ever in their history after a defensive error.
Italy had started the half and the ball was with Andrea Cambiaso who played it back towards Giovanni Di Lorenzo who was put under pressure by Bradley Barcola. The Italian defender played a horrible back pass which Barcola latched onto and he was through on goal and produced a brilliant finesse shot past Donnarumma to give the hosts the lead after just 12 seconds on the clock.
Barcola’s first goal for the national team rocked Italy and they seemed very disoriented by the goal for the next few minutes and France exploited every opportunity they could get. Italy produced a moment in the seventh minute where they should’ve gone level when Davide Frattesi’s header hit the crossbar before Mateo Retegui missed the follow-up.
There weren’t a lot of clear-cut chances after the initial flurry of goals before a moment of magic at the half an hour mark saw Italy go level. Cambiaso took hold of the ball on the right flank, shuffled the ball onto his left foot and played a beautiful cross-field pass to Federico Dimarco who laid the ball to Sandro Tonali. His backheel flick looped the ball over the French defence and into the penalty box where Dimarco was present to hit an exquisite volley past Maignan to make it 1-1.
The first half ended excitingly but the score remained level at half-time. Italy had slowly grown into the game after the early setback and started the second half strongly. Just five minutes into the first half, Italy had completed their comeback as Fofana was dispossessed in the middle before the ball reached Retegui who played a grounded cross inside the box where Frattesi slid in behind William Saliba to put his team ahead by 2-1.
✅ First goal with the National Team
✅ Fastest goal in France NT history
✅ 10th fastest goal at international level
BRADLEY. BARCOLA. ⚡️🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/uTj1xjJnL2
— Ligue 1 English (@Ligue1_ENG) September 6, 2024
Following Italy’s second goal, the momentum completely shifted towards the visitors and they always looked threatening on the attack with Frattesi proving to be a handful for the French defence. In this half, it was France who seemed rattled by the early goal and couldn’t seem to recover from that to create any meaningful chances for the hosts.
France had two players making their debut in the game with Michael Olise starting and Manu Kone coming off from the bench around the one-hour mark. Both of them impressed at the Olympics and continued in the same fashion for the senior team. Olise had a good debut for his national team and was taken off in place of Ousmane Dembele, whose performance would’ve made the French fans appreciate Olise even more.
Manu Kone was impressive after coming on in place of Youssouf Fofana, finding the right spaces and the right passes while also helping out defensively. However, that all was not enough for Didier Deschamps’ men as they conceded another goal in the in the 74th minute to compound their misery. Spurs left-back Destiny Udogie made a great run from the left flank before cutting inside and playing a pass right at the feet of another substitute, Giacomo Raspadori.
Raspadori used his feet well to come inside the box and move the ball away from Saliba before side-footing the ball past Maignan to make it 3-1 for the visitors and put the game out of France’s reach. After showing so much potential and attacking intent in the early minutes of the game, France reverted to the same toothless attack which looked devoid of creativity that we saw in the recently concluded UEFA Euro 2024.
Italy improved so much on their performance in the Euros and manager Luciano Spalletti must be given credit for this turnaround. Apart from the first ten minutes of the match, Italy always looked the better team and despite having a misfiring striker leading the line, they managed to batter France at their home to come away with a first victory in Paris in over 70 years.
Player of the Match
Davide Frattesi celebrates his goal during the UEFA Nations League 2024/25 League A Group A2 match between France and Italy at on September 06, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Image Photo Agency/Getty Images)
There can be no other candidate for this title other than Inter Milan’s Italian midfielder, Davide Frattesi. In a team that lacked attacking intent, the central midfielder was the most threatening player from Spalletti’s side and could’ve easily gotten himself a hattrick in the game. He produced a real poacher’s display, always arriving into the box to wreak havoc in the French penalty area.
He was Italy’s best player in the game and was the best player present on the pitch. Aside from getting the goal that put the visitors ahead, he had four total shots in the game including his goal. Two of his three shots ended up being on target and the one that didn’t hit the crossbar. He had a passing accuracy of almost 90%, misplacing only two of his 16 passes in the 62 minutes he played.
While he only got 27 touches of the ball in 62 minutes, he got four of those inside the opposition box and what he did with those touches is what made him stand out on the evening. Apart from his attacking output, Frattesi also put in a brilliant shift defensively, winning two out of his three tackles, making five defensive actions and also winning 80% of his duels during the game.
The 2018 FIFA World Cup winners and the winners of the UEFA Euro 2020 came head-to-head in their opening game of Group A2 of the UEFA Nations League 2024/25 in Paris. Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
