Italy’s head coach Luciano Spalletti.
What: AP
Two days before the game, Italy’s football association reported: “Tutto esaurito” – sold out. 68,000 fans want to see Squadra Azzurra’s Nations League group final against France on Sunday evening (8:45 p.m.) in Milan’s Stadio Giuseppe Meazza.
Italians already in the next round
The leaders of Group A2 had already secured their place in the quarter-finals with a 1-0 win in Belgium on matchday 5 – and secured a point win against Italy’s new sports hero Jannik Sinner. Coach Luciano Spalletti’s team captivated seven million TV viewers, almost four million more people than Sinner, who also impressed against Daniil Medvedev at the ATP Finals in Turin.
Italy against France: The balance sheet
Most important duels:
2006 World Cup final (5:3 on penalties for Italy)
European Championship final (2:1 after a golden goal for France)
World Cup quarter-finals 1998 (4:3 iE for France)
1986 World Cup round of 16 (2-0 for France)
European Championship preliminary round 2008 (2:0 for Italy)
Initial situation: After losing 3-1 in the first leg, France (ten points) needs a win with at least a two-goal difference to take first place in Group A2 from Italy (13 points).
Whatever coach Spalletti has done differently since Italy’s disappointing performances at the European Championships in Germany: It doesn’t just work – it fascinates.
Forgive and forget the EM debacle
After the completely unexpected 3-1 win in the first leg against France in Paris at the beginning of September, the EM disgrace felt forgiven and forgotten. Not least because Federico Dimarco scored probably the best goal of the current competition after a backheel assist from Sandro Tonali.
The French took the lead against Italy after just 13 seconds and still ended up losing the game. 07.09.2024 | 2:59 min
The mandatory victories against Israel (2:1, 4:1) and the enthusiastic performances against Belgium (2:2, 1:0) underlined what Italy captain and goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma stated before the reunion with the Équipe Tricolore:
We managed to elicit emotions from the Italians again.
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Captain Gianluigi Donnarumma
Italy’s many secret ingredients
Italy’s secret formula contains many ingredients for success. With 24-year-old Tonali, who looks and plays like Andrea Pirlo, the Azzurri finally have a director again who was sorely missed at the European Championships. Tonali missed this because of her involvement in betting transactions. The fact that Samuele Ricci (23, FC Turin), an up-and-coming youngster, had to withdraw injured has so far turned out to be half as wild. With Nicolò Rovella (22, Lazio), Spalletti, who now consistently relies on a variable three-man defense chain, threw the next talent into the deep end against Belgium. Successfully.
In addition, some established forces are unrecognizable. Right-back Giovanni di Lorenzo, who was rightly criticized during the European Championships – Spalletti’s championship captain in Naples in 2023 – has found his best form again. With Mateo Regetui (Atalanta) and Moise Kean (Florence), two Italians lead the national top scorers list. That didn’t happen for a long time either.
France as a yardstick
Despite this – or precisely because of this – the top match at San Siro will be an important indicator for Italy at the end of the year. Will the new wave of euphoria ebb at the first setback, or will it be as lasting as the exciting football that Spalletti wants to establish?
France, which on paper is certainly still stronger than the Azzurri, can only dream of an atmosphere around the national team like in Italy before the prestigious duel. The 0-0 draw against Israel on Thursday only attracted 16,000 spectators. Coach Didier Deschamps says he can look back on a good year:
We are second in the world rankings and have reached the European Championship semi-finals. In the Nations League I relied more on young players.
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France coach Didier Deschamps
However, France fans have not yet forgotten that the European Championship semi-finals were reached with strictly result-oriented football. And the fact that Deschamps is currently without captain and superstar Kylian Mbappé has further increased speculation about the standing of the 2018 world champion coach.
A lot of effort, little return: France – again without Kylian Mbappe – has to be satisfied with a 0-0 draw at home against Israel, but is qualified for the quarter-finals.15.11.2024 | 2:59 min
