Italy Defeats France 3-1 in UEFA Nations League Showdown
UEFA Nations League
Italy 3 – 1 France FT
Pio Esposito has scored four goals in this Nations League campaign [Getty Images]
Italy shocked France with a 3-1 victory in their UEFA Nations League match at the San Siro, marking France’s first loss under coach Zinedine Zidane.
The match started with Les Bleus taking the lead after Italy’s goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma made an error, passing the ball to Michael Olise, who skillfully navigated past a couple of defenders to score.
However, Italy equalized through Pio Esposito, who executed a clever near-post finish following a setup by Nicolo Cambiaghi.
Later, Sebastiano Esposito missed a penalty for Italy, but Davide Frattesi soon put Italy ahead with a powerful shot after receiving a pass from Federico Dimarco.
Italy earned another penalty, which Pio Esposito converted for his second goal of the match. The 21-year-old striker from Inter Milan has now netted nine goals in his first 14 international appearances.
This victory also marked Italy’s first home win against France since 1962.
Zinedine Zidane, who took over as coach after the last World Cup, had steered France to three wins and one draw prior to this defeat.
With this result, Italy now leads Group A1 ahead of France due to a superior head-to-head record. Both teams are currently on 10 points, just one ahead of Belgium, who triumphed over Turkey 2-1 in an earlier match.
The top two teams in the group will progress to the quarter-finals, with upcoming matches seeing Belgium host Italy and France playing at home against Turkey.
