Italy Overcomes Early Setback to Defeat France 3-1 in Thrilling Nations League Opener

PARIS: Italy went behind after 12 seconds but came back to beat France 3-1 in a highly-entertaining Nations League A Group 2 opening game on Friday.

Bradley Barcola found the net in the opening minute when he caught Giovanni Di Lorenzo napping and raced into the area before curling his shot past Gianluigi Donnarumma.

Italy levelled after half an hour with Federico Dimarco volleying home a deft back-heel flicked pass from Sandro Tonali, and the sides went in level at the break after a pulsating opening half.

Five minutes after the interval and France were rocked again with Davide Frattesi putting Italy ahead, and Giacomo Raspadori gave the visitors the breathing space they needed in the 74th minute to silence the Parc des Prince crowd.

Both sides came into the game looking for redemption after failing to impress at Euro 2024, but it was Italy who earned the much-needed victory.

It was a terrible start for the visitors with Di Lorenzo taking far too long over a back-pass and Barcola pounced to score his first international goal.

A frantic start to the game gave Italy the chance to level five minutes later but Frattesi hammered a close range header off the crossbar.

Donnarumma pulled off saves from Kylian Mbappe and Michael Olise, making his debut, before Italy found the equaliser, with Tonali's assist just as impressive as the strike which found the net.

Tonali, back in the side after serving a 10-month ban for breaching betting rules, played a beautiful one-two with Dimarco who continued his run into the box and struck a sweet left-footed volley beyond the reach of Maignan.

Italy came out of the blocks quickest in the second half and Retegui's perfect ball across the goal found Frattesi sliding in and his shot beat Maignan at his near post and minutes later Maignan got down to save Frattesi's header from a corner kick.

They found the all-important third goal with two second half substitutes combining. Destiny Udogie passed to Raspadori running into the box and he went round William Saliba to fire past the oncoming Maignan.

France piled on the pressure looking for a way back but Italy held firm to take all three points.

Kevin De Bruyne netted twice to lead Belgium to a 3-1 win over Israel in their opening Nations League clash on Friday, played behind closed doors in neutral Hungary because of security concerns.

Belgium’s captain put his side ahead after 21 minutes but Israel equalised nine minutes before the break despite spending most of the half defending at Debrecen’s Nagyerdei Stadion.

Youri Tielemans restored Belgium's lead directly after halftime and De Bruyne tucked away a penalty soon after to extend their advantage.

Belgium could afford to waste another penalty as they went top of League A Group 2 alongside with Italy, who beat France 3-1 in Paris in Friday’s other group game.

De Bruyne’s double came one day after he had emphasised his commitment to the Belgian side, ending months of speculation over his future with the national team.

The 33-year-old had complained about the prospect of playing too many matches and left his future with Belgium uncertain after the European Championship in mid-year.

But there was no doubting his appetite as he led the early attacks and ghosted in unmarked to get onto the end of Jeremy Doku’s cross from the left for the opening goal.

Israel, however, were level in the 36th minute when Anan Khalaili’s header took a wicked deflection off Timothy Castagne.

De Bruyne had lost possession, leading to a rare Israeli attack with Idan Nachmlas whipping in a cross that Khalaili met in the box and then went flying in off the Belgian fullback.

Initially it was awarded to the Israeli forward, who plays his club football in Belgium, but later changed by UEFA to an own goal.

Belgium wasted no time restoring their superiority after halftime as Wout Faes’ cross was cleverly flicked back by Lois Openda into the path of Tielemans, who cracked home a strong shot from close range in the 48th minute

Four minutes later, De Bruyne tucked away a spot kick when Openda was brought down by Raz Schlomo.

But he was not tempted to go for a hat-trick when Israel gave away another penalty four minutes thereafter, with Openda again upended in a clumsy clip from behind by Sagiv Jehezkel.

Instead, De Bruyne allowed Openda to take it and a tame shot was saved by Yoav Gerafi. Agencies

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