Zinédine Zidane said that his side were “in disarray” in what was his first defeat as manager of the France national team. The defeat to Italy at the San Siro was Les Bleus’ first on Italian soil since 1962.
France, who won three of their first four games during the first international break of the Zidane era, looked set to continue their strong start under their new manager. Profiting from a Gianluigi Donnarumma error, they took the lead through Michael Olise, who is emerging as the key player in this side.
However, things fell apart. Sebastiano Esposito levelled up midway through the second half before Davide Frattesi gave Roberto Mancini’s side the lead just after the hour mark. Thereafter, Les Bleus were overrun and Esposito would complete the scoring in a 3-1 win in which the Italians also missed a penalty.
Post-match, Zidane analysed the defeat in an interview with TF1: “When we were struggling, we didn’t manage to react within the framework of the game plan that we put in place. We did it at 0-0 or at 1-0, but as soon as they took the lead, we were in disarray, notably defensively. We won’t be worried. It is a part of football. It is better that these kinds of moments come now. It wasn’t a ‘non-match’ tonight, but there is something to improve upon.”
GFFN | Luke Entwistle
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