ITALY SURPRISES FRANCE IN NATIONAL LEAGUE OPENER

Italy came from behind to beat France 3-1 at the Parc des Princes in Paris, getting their UEFA Nations League campaign off to a flying start.

France made a dream start when Paris Saint-Germain winger Bradley Barcola stole the ball from Giovanni Di Lorenzo before firing into the penalty area to give France the lead after just 13 seconds, his first international goal.

Just five minutes later, Italy came very close to equalising when Davide Frattesi had a close-range chance, but his header was blocked on the crossbar.

The visitors equalised on the half hour mark when Federico Dimarco and Sandro Tonali combined superbly. A one-touch move found Dimarco’s Newcastle midfielder, who tapped the ball back for Dimarco to pull the trigger with a fierce volley that flew into the far top corner.

Five minutes into the second half, Frattesi made amends for his earlier miss to put the Italians ahead when he met a low cross from Mateo Retegui and slotted the ball past the helpless Mike Maignan into the net.

Giacomo Raspadori gave the visitors the three points when he received the ball in the penalty area after a brilliant move from Destiny Udogie on the left, before slotting past William Saliba to fire home Italy’s third.