Italy Vs France

Unexpectedly, France's hero is Lucas Digne! Without Kylian Mbappe, an Aston Villa star leads Les Bleus to win against Italy.

At San Siro on Sunday, France defeated Italy 3-1 to win their Nations League group, and it was all Lucas Digne and Adrien Rabiot.

In their last Nations League A Group 2 match, France and Italy knew they had already guaranteed their spots in the tournament's two-leg quarterfinal, which is scheduled for March. Both parties were aware that first place was still up for grabs, though. Although Italy had a three-point advantage over France going into the match, Didier Deschamps' team was aware that a two-goal victory at San Siro would guarantee them first place. Adrien Rabiot headed a corner from Lucas Digne past Guglielmo Vicario in the second minute of play to give France the lead.

Italy quickly began to try to control the game despite the rocky start, but Gli Azzurri was unable to do so because of France's strong push.

Following a haphazard half hour of play, France launched their first serious attempt since Rabiot's goal when Davide Frattesi took down Christopher Nkunku outside the Italy box. To give the visitors a two-goal advantage, Digne stepped up and hit the underside of Vicario's goalpost with an almost flawless free-kick that bounced against the back of the Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper and then pinged into the net. The healthy edge, though, was short-lived as Dimarco and Sandro Tonali joined forces.

The former let a flawless cross from the byline to go over Frattesi's head, but Andrea Cambiaso met it and skillfully tucked a volley past Mike Maignan.

And another set-piece scenario in the second half caused Italy to collapse once more. When the defender's accurate cross found the Marseille midfielder, who headed the ball beyond a helpless Vicario, Digne and Rabiot replicated their move from the second minute of the match. Gli Azzurri understood that lowering their goal differential would allow Italy to seize the top place, so they went all out for Maignan's goal. However, France's 3-1 victory was sufficient for them to finish first, thus it was not to be.

Digne is responsible for Deschamps' triumph against Italy. The Villa star played excellent defense against Frattesi and Cambiaso and recorded two assists. This season, the Aston Villa left-back has also been playing well for Unai Emery's team, and he was given a chance to start at left-back for Les Bleus before Theo Hernandez. The former Barcelona and Everton player could have exerted some pressure on Deschamps to give him serious consideration as the starting left-back.

The Gli Azzurri's set-up while defending dead-ball scenarios is something that Italy's set-piece coaches will need to take a close look at. Set pieces have been the source of Spalletti's team's previous six conceded goals, including all three against France today at San Siro. Before his squad faces its quarterfinal match in March, Spalletti will need to figure out how to fix this significant weakness.

France and Italy will now have to wait until November 22 to find out who they will play next in the Nations League quarterfinal. France will play the second leg at the Stade de France after winning their group. Italy, however, finished as runners-up and will have to play at San Siro in the opening leg.