Esposito double fires Italy past France
Francesco Pio Esposito scored in both halves to help Italy come from behind and beat France 3-1 in the Nations League, as Zinedine Zidane suffered his first defeat in charge of Les Bleus
Michael Olise gave France an early lead, but Francesco Pio Esposito scored on either side of Davide Frattesi's effort to send Italy top of Group A1 and keep its hopes of a quarter-final place in their own hands.
Desire Doue hit the side netting, and Adrien Rabiot forced a sharp save from Gianluigi Donnarumma before France – without Kylian Mbappe – got the breakthrough in the 10th minute.
But after a goal-kick was taken short to Donnarumma, he sliced his pass straight to the feet of Olise, who skipped between two Italy defenders and drilled his low strike past the goalkeeper at the near post.
Italy responded well to the setback as Nicolo Cambiaghi pulled a ball back into the six-yard box, with Francesco Pio Esposito sticking out a leg to knock an equaliser past Mike Maignan 26 minutes in.
His brother Sebastiano Esposito forced a good save out of Maignan shortly after, while Bradley Barcola cut inside to curl a low shot against the foot of the right post down the other end.
Donnarumma tipped a long-range Rayan Cherki effort onto the woodwork shortly after making a sloppy clearance early in the second half, and also got behind a fierce Rabiot strike.
Straight after that, Italy won a penalty after Malo Gusto clumsily brought Cambiaghi down in the box, but Sebastiano Esposito fired wide from 12 yards on the hour.
Italy was in front three minutes later, though, as substitute Federico Dimarco had an immediate impact, teeing up Frattesi for an emphatic first-time finish.
France was unable to mount a comeback, though, as Dayot Upamecano brought down Antonio Vergara in the box, and Francesco Pio Esposito fired another penalty into the bottom-left corner with 15 minutes remaining to secure Italy all three points.
Francesco Pio Esposito
Italy
