Zinedine Zidane’s first home game in charge of France ended with a 1-1 draw against Italy in a Nations League Group A clash on Friday.
French fans got an exciting game at the Stade de France, but not the result they expected, mainly because of Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma’s performance.
Michael Olise put France ahead in the 55th minute with a curling shot from 20 meters which went in off the crossbar, following a short free kick taken by Rayan Cherki.
Poor defending midway through the second half allowed central defender Alessandro Bastoni to run through and clip a low shot inside the right post.
Zinedine Zidane
“I’m disappointed for the players because we deserved better. We had chances to kill the game off but we didn’t [take them] and football’s like that sometimes. But it was encouraging. Honestly, I’m proud of how we played,” said Zidane.
Meanwhile, midfielder Kevin de Bruyne showed he can still dominate a match at age 35 when he scored Belgium’s first two goals in a 3-0 win over Turkey in a Group A match.
De Bruyne opened the scoring 10 minutes into the game when he played a one-two with Dodi Lukebakio and struck from near the edge of the area.
The Napoli playmaker curled home another goal with half an hour to play. Substitute Romelu Lukaku sealed the win over the Turks.
Another veteran, Poland’s Robert Lewandowski, also shone on the night. The ex-Bayern Munich and Barcelona star netted a hat-trick in their 6-0 win over Romania in Group H.
Two
No of years since France failed to win a non-friendly match after scoring first