Italy recovered from conceding inside 13 seconds to fight back and beat France 3-1 in their UEFA Nations League clash in Paris on Friday, with Federico Dimarco, Davide Frattesi and Giacomo Raspadori all on target.
Bradley Barcola had opened the scoring at the Parc des Princes with the fastest ever goal by a France player, but the home side failed to build on that stunning start and Italy ran out deserved winners.
The result is a boost for Luciano Spalletti’s team after their poor showing at Euro 2024, when their defence of the title was ended limply by Switzerland in the last 16.
“Conceding a goal after 13 seconds could have driven us crazy but we were very good in the way we reacted,” Spalletti said.
“We kept our focus and did some great things beyond the goals. We were giants tonight.”
The winning start in this edition of the Nations League leaves Italy level at the top of Group A2 with Belgium, who beat Israel 3-1 in Friday’s other game.
Italy face Israel next on Monday, with that match taking place in Budapest due to the security situation in the Middle East.
France, for whom captain Kylian Mbappe struggled to make an impact in Paris, will hope to bounce back from a flat performance when they take on Belgium next in Lyon.
Mbappe and Didier Deschamps’ side also had a disappointing Euros despite reaching the semi-finals and only losing to eventual champions Spain.
“It hurts for all of us,” admitted Deschamps. “Congratulations to Italy. We were lacking, but we are not going to dwell too much on this.”
Here, Deschamps handed a debut on the right wing to Michael Olise, the London-born Bayern Munich winger who starred in the France side that won the Olympic silver medal last month.
There was also a second full international start for Barcola, and the 22-year-old Paris Saint-Germain player wasted no time making an impact.
Barcola record
Italy kicked off but Barcola pressed high and robbed the ball from the feet of Giovanni Di Lorenzo before running through to finish.
The 13 seconds needed to score was 10 seconds fewer than Albania’s goal against Italy in June which was the fastest ever at a European Championship.
Barcola’s strike is the fastest ever by a France player, beating the previous quickest of 38 seconds by Bernard Lacombe, also against Italy at the 1978 World Cup.
Italy came back to win that game 2-1 and they also staged a fine fightback here, almost equalising in the sixth minute when Frattesi headed against the bar with the goal gaping.
They equalised via a magnificent goal on the half-hour mark, as Dimarco laid off a crossfield ball by Andrea Cambiaso and got it back first-time from Sandro Tonali before volleying high into the far corner of the net.
The away side went ahead five minutes after half-time when Frattesi, of Inter Milan, intercepted a Youssouf Fofana pass in midfield to spark a counterattack, then burst into the box to score from Mateo Retegui’s centre.
France replaced Olise with Ousmane Dembele and gave midfielder Manu Kone — another member of their Olympic team — his full international bow off the bench.
But Italy almost scored again as Frattesi forced a fine save from goalkeeper Mike Maignan with a header from a corner.
They then made it 3-1 on 74 minutes when Raspadori, running untracked into the area, collected a pass from fellow substitute Destiny Udogie, his first touch taking him past William Saliba before he tucked in.
France were unable to recover and the final whistle was greeted with a mixture of whistles and indifference from the home support.
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