2024-09-07 11:26:39
France sent the ball into Italy’s net at the beginning of the match. The fastest goal in France and Nations League history. The next story is from Italy. They kept France busy by attacking one after the other in messy football. Luciano Spalletti’s side won the A-League Group Two match 3-1 after a great turnaround.
On Friday night (September 6), France took the lead in France’s home ground with Bahli Barkola’s goal. Then Italy’s Federico Dimarco equalized in the first half. Davide Frattesi and Giacomo Raspadori scored Italy’s remaining two goals after the break.
France went ahead at the beginning of the match. Italian defender Giovanni Di Lorenzo was waiting to take control of the ball from a teammate’s back-pass. He was standing with a very arrogant expression. At this opportunity, Barkola entered the box with the ball in front of him. He beat the oncoming goalkeeper with a right foot shot.
This is the fastest goal in French history and in the Nations League (13 seconds). The previous fastest goal for France was Bernard Lacombe, who scored 37 seconds into the match against Italy in the 1978 World Cup group stage. And in the Nations League, this record was held by Switzerland’s Haris Seferovic (57 seconds).
After advancing, France started to play in a much looser rhythm. In this opportunity, Italy equalized in the 30th minute. Dimarco got the ball from a teammate’s cross from the right and passed Sandro Tonali outside the box. Then Tonali gave him a one-to-one return. Dimarco found the net with a great volley.
Then in the second half, Italy gave attacking football. Because of that, the Azzurri went ahead with a great attack in the 50th minute. Frattesi scored the goal with a left-footed shot with his first touch in the box after running through Retegi’s pass.
Second-half substitute Ousmane Dembele had a good chance to equalize in the 63rd minute. Despite receiving Griezmann’s cross, the PSG forward could not take a proper shot in the box. Kylian Mbappé was also a complete flop in this match.
Italy secured victory in the 74th minute. Raspadori received a pass from a teammate in the box, and the Napoli forward evaded the goalkeeper with a right-footed shot that eluded French defender William Saliba. In the rest of the period, France had two chances but could not capitalize.
In another match of the group, Belgium defeated Israel 3-1 with a double goal by Kevin De Bruyne.