A spectacular Olise stunner was not enough to give France victory as Italy fought back for a 1-1 draw in Zinedine Zidane’s first home match as head coach at the Stade de France on Friday. France had started their international break in style with two away wins, but couldn’t mount a pressure cooker against a resilient Italy team in Paris.
Michael Olise made a great long-range effort to put the hosts up 2-0. Rayan Cherki sent a free-kick into the face of the Bayern Munich forward, who then unleashed a big effort from the edge of the area that sailed in off the bottom of the crossbar.
The win, which was his 14th in 15 games for France, rounded off a stellar run for Olise in the French jersey. Now, he’s added 14 goals in 15 appearances for France this season, making him more and more integral to Zidane’s offense.
Losing possession in a dangerous area, Italy reacted. It was all too easy for Alessandro Bastoni to make the first move, running forward to beat an unmarked Mike Maignan on the edge of the area to make it 1-0. France were then left with 10 players after Dayot Upamecano was sent off for a second yellow card late in the match.
Italy go into Saturday’s match in a 1-1-1-2 record against the draw since Roberto Mancini got back into the national-team dugout. France will have to come to terms with a missed opportunity, having dominated much of the meet. In Group A1, elsewhere, Belgium held off Turkey to secure a convincing 3-0 win in their first game under Mark van Bommel. Belgian Kevin De Bruyne hit on the net twice and Romelu Lukaku got the third as the home side took all three points.
