Upamecano Sees Pio Esposito as a Difficult Forward
France international Dayot Upamecano said he likes the play of Italy forward Pio Esposito and that marking him is not easy. He added that France will not change their style of play for their Nations League match against Italy.
France national team player Dayot Upamecano spoke about Italy forward Francesco Pio Esposito. Upamecano said that marking Esposito is not easy. However, he said they would not change their style of play for this Nations League match.
The match will kick off at 19:45 (GMT) on Thursday at the San Siro. It will be played in the second-to-last week of the group stage. France lead the group with 10 points, Italy are second with 7 points, and Belgium are third with 6 points.
Upamecano stressed that Italy have a new head coach and players who play for top clubs. France's only dropped points in this Nations League campaign came in the 1-1 draw with Italy in Paris on 2 October. Esposito started that match in the starting XI and is expected to play on the end of the attack again tonight.
Upamecano said Esposito is a very good and physical player, and that they found him difficult to mark in the first match. He said he does not want to focus on a single player, because they will be facing the whole Italian team. He also added that France aim to press the opponent with a high defensive line and win the ball back quickly.
Like in the first match in Paris, France will play without the injured Kylian Mbappé. Marcus Thuram, Esteban Lepaul, Ousmane Dembélé, Aurelien Tchouameni, Manu Koné and Pierre Kalulu are also among the players ruled out of the squad.
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