Italy ended their Nations League group stage campaign on a slightly disappointing note with a 3-1 loss on home soil against France on Sunday night, despite winning four of their other five matches in the competition, including three victories away from home.
Italy’s Nations League story went full-circle on Sunday night. The campaign began with a surprise 3-1 victory over France in Paris and ended with a 3-1 defeat by Les Bleues in Milan.
Both of those results came as somewhat of a surprise. Italy were excellent in the first game, and looked determined to redeem themselves after a poor summer at the EUROs. Much improved by the time the reverse fixture came around, more was expected from Italy against a France side that went without some of its biggest stars and had just been held 0-0 at home by Israel.
How Italy got on in the Nations League group stage
The September international break began with the 3-1 victory over France at the Parc des Princes. A Giovanni Di Lorenzo error led to a Bradley Barcola opener in the first minute, but Italy were celebrating by full-time after goals from Federico Dimarco, Davide Frattesi and Giacomo Raspadori.
A few days later, Luciano Spalletti and his team made it two consecutive away wins as they defeated Israel 2-1 in Hungary with goals from Frattesi again and replacement striker Moise Kean, who came in to replace Mateo Retegui up top.
Italy were on home soil for both of their October fixtures. They began encouragingly too, going 2-0 up away against Belgium through Andrea Cambiaso and Retegui, but Lorenzo Pellegrini’s sending off five minutes before half-time played a big part in the game ending 2-2.
The Azzurri brought the positivity back a few days later with a dominant 4-1 victory over Israel in Udine with Retegui, a Di Lorenzo brace and yet another strike from Frattesi.
Things started to get a touch trickier in November, but Italy were still strong enough to hold out for a battling 1-0 win away against Domenico Tedesco’s Belgium to maintain their perfect record away from home in the Nations League.
Then came the 3-1 loss at home to France in San Siro on Sunday night, which was Italy’s first loss since the round of 16 exit against Switzerland at EURO 2024.
What next for the Azzurri?
Italy will not be in action again until March, 2025. They will be involved in Nations League quarter-final action then, and will learn whether they have to play Spain, Germany or Portugal this Friday.
Next season, the attention will pivot to World Cup qualification, which begins in September 2025 for Italy.
