Italy hold France in Zidane’s first home match as coach

France drew 1-1 with Italy at the Stade de France on October 2 in Zinedine Zidane’s first match in the country as national-team coach, with Michael Olise giving the hosts a second-half lead before Alessandro Bastoni equalised for the visitors.¹²³⁴

Olise’s lead cancelled out

Olise broke the deadlock in the 55th minute, striking from distance after a short free kick involving Rayan Cherki. His shot went in off the underside of the crossbar. Bastoni responded 13 minutes later, scoring with a low effort after Lucas Da Cunha lost possession, leaving France without a third consecutive victory under Zidane.¹²³

Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma made several saves to preserve the draw, including stops from Adrien Rabiot and Eduardo Camavinga. France goalkeeper Mike Maignan also denied Moise Kean from close range. The match was watched by 77,118 people at the Stade de France.¹²

The Guardian and ESPN reported that France defender Dayot Upamecano was dismissed after receiving a second yellow card. Al Jazeera’s match timeline placed the incident in the 85th minute. France captain Kylian Mbappe was absent after suffering a knee injury while scoring against Türkiye.¹²³

Zidane wanted more

Zidane said France had created enough opportunities to win. “I'm disappointed for the players because we deserved better,” he said. He added: “We had chances to kill the game off, but we didn't, and football's like that sometimes.” The coach nevertheless said he was proud of the performance and described his return to the Stade de France as touching.³

Zidane was appointed after the World Cup as the replacement for Didier Deschamps, according to ESPN. France won his first two matches 1-0 against Türkiye and Belgium before the draw with Italy. The meeting also renewed Zidane’s connection with Italy, his opponent in the 2006 World Cup final, when he was sent off for headbutting Marco Materazzi.²³

France retain group lead

The result left France at the top of Nations League Group A1 with seven points. Belgium moved to six points after beating Türkiye 3-0 in Liège, with Kevin De Bruyne scoring twice and Romelu Lukaku adding the third. Italy had four points after the draw, two fewer than Belgium.¹²³

France were scheduled to face Belgium on Monday in their final match of the international window, while Italy were due to host Türkiye. In his second stint in charge of Italy, Roberto Mancini saw his side lose 2-0 at home to Belgium, then win 4-1 in Türkiye before drawing in Saint-Denis.¹²³