Italy begin Nations League campaign with comeback win over France in Paris

The Italy Men's National Team kicked off their UEFA Nations League campaign in the best possible way on Friday evening, completing a comeback to claim a memorable 3-1 win in Paris over France. Federico Dimarco, Davide Frattesi and Giacomo Raspadori were all on the scoresheet for the Azzurri.

Things couldn't have started much worse for Luciano Spalletti and his Azzurri, with their terrible 2024 European Championship still fresh in the memory of Italian football fans, and found themselves behind inside a minute at the Parc des Princes with Bradley Barcola opening the scoring.

Azzurri show fight to complete comeback

Spalletti's Italy, though, dug in and showed real spirit, despite the questionable selection choices the coach had made.

Federico Dimarco sent the sides in level at the break with a stunning strike. A big switch from Andrea Cambiaso found Dimarco, and a clever one-two with Sandro Tonali put him in behind the French backline, from where he made no mistake in rifling a volley into the top corner of Mike Maignan's goal.

Another nice combination put Italy ahead early in the second half. Davide Frattesi, on the halfway line, offloaded to Giacomo Raspadori and then set off on a lung-busting run to reach the box. Raspadori set Mateo Retegui down the right, and the Atalanta forward centred for Frattesi to arrive at the edge of the area and finish first-time past Maignan.

Raspadori got a goal of his own with 15 minutes to play. Destiny Udogie carried the ball forward on the left before feeding into the Napoli frontman, who got through the final line of France defenders with one touch before finishing.

The win leaves Italy top of League A Group 2 alongside Belgium after their win on Friday, while France sit bottom on zero points.