Donnarumma made seven saves in Paris, and Italy spoiled Zidane’s first home game as France coach
Michael Olise’s free-kick put France ahead, but Alessandro Bastoni equalised and ten-man France were held 1-1 by Italy in the Nations League.
Oct 3, 2026
The Stade de France gave Zinedine Zidane an ovation on Friday night. It could not give him a win. Italy held France to a 1-1 draw in League A of the Nations League, with Gianluigi Donnarumma making seven saves and Alessandro Bastoni scoring the equaliser.
France had 65 per cent of the ball and eight shots on target to Italy’s two. They still finished the night hanging on with ten men after Dayot Upamecano was sent off in the 85th minute.
Olise breaks through, Bastoni pounces
The opener came from a set piece ten minutes after the restart. Rayan Cherki rolled a free-kick short and Michael Olise curled a left-footed shot from around 20 metres that came down off the underside of the crossbar and over the line.
That should have settled the home side. Instead the equaliser came out of their own build-up. France tried to play out from the back in the 68th minute, Adrien Rabiot’s pass left Lucas da Cunha in trouble, and Bastoni won the ball and drove a low left-footer past Mike Maignan into the bottom corner.
Upamecano’s evening ended early. Already booked in the 73rd minute, he pulled back Moise Kean near the box 12 minutes later and got a second yellow, leaving France to see out the final minutes a man light.
Donnarumma’s night
The Italy goalkeeper was the reason France did not win. Early in the second half he made a double save from Ousmane Dembélé and Désiré Doué. Moments after Bastoni’s goal he got down low to stop Rabiot, and in stoppage time he clawed away a shot from Eduardo Camavinga.
Italy had their moments too. Kean had a close-range chance early on from Michael Kayode’s low cross and shot straight at Maignan, and Sofascore’s expected-goals model actually had Italy ahead on the night, 1.46 to 1.21. France created more, but Italy’s chances were the cleaner ones.
“I’m disappointed for the players because we deserved better,” Zidane said. “We had chances to kill the game off.”
Roberto Mancini saw it differently. He told Rai Sport his side had done well to give France very little in terms of chances, and called it a step forward. That is a fair reading for a team that lost 2-0 at home to Belgium in Rome in their opening game of this campaign.
Belgium next, and no Upamecano
France had won 1-0 in Turkey and 1-0 in Belgium in Zidane’s first two games, so this is the first time he has dropped points. They still top the group with seven, one ahead of Belgium, who beat Turkey 3-0 on the same night. Italy have four points. Turkey have none from three games.
That sets up Monday’s game in Saint-Denis neatly. Belgium come to the Stade de France one point behind, and France will be without Upamecano, who is suspended after his red card.