After being knocked out of the European Championship in the round of 16 as defending champions, the Italian national football team has made a comeback. Head coach Luciano Spalletti’s Squadra Azzurra won 3-1 (1-1) against the European Championship semi-finalist and vice-world champion France in the opening match of the Nations League on Friday. Federico Dimarco, Davide Frattesi and Giacomo Raspadori scored for Italy in the Parc des Princes in Paris.
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However, France got off to a lightning start: Bradley Barcola won the ball straight after Italy’s kick-off and scored his first international goal after 13 seconds to put them 1-0 ahead. After Davide Frattesi had only headed the ball onto the crossbar in the 16th minute, Italy equalized in the 30th minute: Dimarco scored a spectacular volley after a one-two with Sandro Tonali.
International debut for Bayern newcomer
After the break, Italy was successful twice on the counterattack: Frattesi (51′) gave Italy a 2-1 lead, while Raspadori (73′), who had been substituted at half-time, also scored from the break to make it 3-1.
Michael Olise made his international debut for France. The new signing from FC Bayern Munich started in attack alongside Antoine Griezmann and was substituted in the 58th minute. Sandro Tonali was in the Italy squad for the first time since October last year. The midfielder had been banned for ten months due to his involvement in the Italian football betting scandal.
In the second match of Group 2, Belgium also beat Israel 3-1 (1-1). The team of German head coach Domenico Tedesco took the lead thanks to Kevin De Bruyne (21′), but Anan Khalaili’s deflected header gave Israel the equalizer (36′). Shortly after the restart, Belgium scored twice within four minutes through Youri Tielemans (48′) and De Bruyne from a penalty (52′). The match was played in Debrecen, Hungary, for safety reasons and without spectators.
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Austria’s national coach Ralf Rangnick could only manage a 1:1 (1:1) draw against Slovenia in the first game in League B after his team was relegated two years ago. Konrad Laimer (28′) equalized for Austria, after Benjamin Sesko (16′) had put Slovenia in the lead.
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