Italy Put Their Faith in the Esposito Brothers Against France

Italy and France face each other for the top two spots in Nations League Group A1. France come into this round with 10 points, while Italy have 7 and Belgium have 6. Only the top two teams in the group will advance to the quarter-finals.

Roberto Mancini is sticking with a 4-3-3 formation. Pio and Sebastiano Esposito will form the front three alongside Bologna's Niccolò Cambiaghi. In midfield, Sandro Tonali, Lazio's in-form Davide Frattesi and Inter's Nicolò Barella will play. Brentford's Michael Kayode and Arsenal's Riccardo Calafiori will line up at full-back, while Federico Dimarco will start on the bench. Sebastiano Esposito will play on the right wing. After losing 2-0 at home to Belgium, Italy won two matches and drew 1-1 in Paris.

Gianluigi Donnarumma will face Milan supporters who will whistle at him at San Siro. The fans have not forgiven the player for leaving as a free agent in 2021. Italy have lost their last three matches at this stadium. Gianluca Mancini and Nicolò Zaniolo have been withdrawn from the squad.

On the French side, under Zinedine Zidane, every match has been won except the 1-1 draw with Italy. Kylian Mbappé has been named in the squad but, due to his hamstring injury, is not even on the bench. Michael Olise, Désiré Doué and Bradley Barcola are among the players expected to stand out in attack. Marcus Thuram, Ousmane Dembélé, Aurélien Tchouaméni, William Saliba, Jules Koundé, Pierre Kalulu, Manu Koné and Maxence Lacroix are also among the many players on the injury list.