921st match since 1904: 463 wins, 193 draws, 264 defeats, 1655 goals scored, 1245 conceded
403 competitive match : 231 wins, 88 draws, 83 defeats, 780 goals scored, 392 conceded
24th Nations League match : 13 wins, 5 draws, 5 defeats, 35 goals scored, 24 conceded
337th away match : 132 wins, 75 draws, 128 defeats, 502 goals scored, 555 conceded
41st match against Italy : 11 wins, 10 draws, 19 defeats, 57 goals scored, 85 goals conceded
The question: when was the last defeat in Italy?
For a long time for the French team, going to play in Italy seemed like an ordeal: between 1910 and 1962, the Blues played 14 matches and lost… 13. The only exception is the 4-3 in 1912 with a hat-trick. 'Eugène Maës, the only one signed by a French player against Italy. But what is more surprising (apart from the fact that two of its defeats were conceded in play-off matches on neutral ground, against Yugoslavia in 1949 and against Bulgaria in 1961), is that the defeat of May 5, 1962 in Florence, that of the only selection by Michel Hidalgo and the antepenultimate selection by Raymond Kopa. Albert Batteux, coach (but not selector, who was Georges Verriest) will resign after the match.
But since that date, in eight matches played in Italy, the Blues have only drawn twice (in 1978, 2-2 and in 2007, 0-0) for six victories! Certainly, three of them took place against opponents other than the Squadra Azzurra (Israel 2-1 in 2003, Belgium 3-2 and Spain 2-1 in 2021). Three times, the Blues have beaten Italy, certainly each time in a friendly: 1-0 in 1994 (for Aimé Jacquet's first match), 3-1 in 2016 and 2018.
The matches of November 17
With six victories in 9 outings since 1976, the Blues had rather good results on November 17. We will only note two hiccups, in 2015 at Wembley against England (0-2, during a match played four days after the attacks of November 13) and in 1993 against Bulgaria (1-2) with very serious consequences. heavier, since this defeat deprived the French team of the 1994 World Cup and led to the resignation of Gérard Houllier, replaced by his deputy Aimé Jacquet responsible for acting. We know the rest.
– Ireland (1976) in Paris – 2-0 – qCM
– Czechoslovakia (1979) in Paris – 2-1 – qEuro
– Albania (1990) in Tirana – 1-0 – qEuro
– Bulgaria (1993) in Paris – 1-2 – qCM
– Poland (2004) in Saint-Denis – 0-0 – Friendly
– England (2010) in London – 2-1 – Friendly
– England (2015) in London – 0-2 – Friendly
– Albania (2019) in Tirana – 2-0 – qEuro
– Sweden (2020) in Saint-Denis – 4-2 – qLN
– Italy (2024) in Milan – qLN
Stats to watch
– Lucas Chevalier could become, if he plays, the 942nd Blue in history, but also the 81st goalkeeper of the selection, the fourth new since the second world title after Alphonse Aréola in 2018, Mike Maignan in 2020 and Brice Samba in 2023 .
– Randal Kolo Muani should finish top scorer for the Blues in 2024. He already has 6 goals before the match. Since Franck Ribéry in 2013, this title has been shared by only three players: Olivier Giroud (5 times), Kylian Mbappé (3) and Karim Benzema (2).
– The Blues have not lost their last match of the calendar year since 2016. The last defeat dates back to November 17, 2015 at Wembley against England. Since then, the French team has had 5 victories (including two away, in Finland and Albania) and 4 draws.
– How many Milanese Blues will play at San Siro? There are potentially four: Mike Maignan and Théo Hernandez (AC Milan), Benjamin Pavard and Marcus Thuram (Inter). Before them, only Patrick Vieira had done it when he played for Inter, on September 8, 2007.
– With only 7 victories in 2024, the Blues could achieve the lowest success percentage in a calendar year since 2013 (42%, or 5 out of 12). If they don't win, they will finish the year at 44% (43.75 more precisely). Since the beginning of the 21st century, the lowest level is 38% (in 2010) and the highest is 93% (in 2003).
– The attack is not doing much better, with only 19 goals in 15 games. This is for the moment the same total as in 2020, but in only 8 matches. To find a year with 15 games and 19 goals, we have to go back to 2004, where the Blues had five 0-0s, a record. In 2024, there will be four.
France-Italy players and scorers
306 Blues have crossed Italy since 1910. Thierry Henry and Lilian Thuram have done so 6 times, while Patrick Vieira, Franck Ribéry, Robert Jonquet, Roger marche, Etienne Mattler, Edmond Delfour, Jules Devaquez and Jean Ducret have done 5 times. In the current group, N'Golo Kanté has met Italy three times.
In terms of scorers, Bradley Barcola, who opened the scoring after 12 seconds of play last September, is the 42nd French scorer, but the most prolific by far is Eugène Maës (6 goals). He is ahead of Michel Platini and Henri Bard (3), ahead of a group of six made up of Sidney Govou, Youri Djorkaeff, Zinédine Zidane, Paul Nicolas, Georges Taisne and Juste Brouzes (2).
The Italians are also 306 to have played against the French. Renzo de Vecchi has 7 matches between 1911 and 1925, ahead of Fabio Cannavaro (6), Andrea Pirlo, Gianluigi Buffon, Alessandro Del Pierro, Daniele De Rossi, Giovanni Ferrari, Virginio Rosetta, Adolfo Baloncieri and Aldo Cevenini. As for the scorers, Giuseppe Meazza, who gave his name to the Milan stadium, scored 5 goals between 1931 and 1938, ahead of Guglielmo Brezzi, Adolfo Baloncieri, Virgilio Levratto, Luigi Cevenini, Carlo Rampini, Riccardo Carapellese, Ermanno Aebi and Pietro Lana ( 3).
