PARIS: Italy recovered from conceding inside 13 seconds to fight back and beat France 3-1 in their UEFA Nations League clash in Paris on Friday, while Belgium beat Israel and Wales drew with Turkey.

Bradley Barcola had opened the scoring at the Parc des Princes with the fastest ever goal by a France player, but the home side failed to build on that stunning start and Italy ran out deserved winners with Federico Dimarco, Davide Frattesi and Giacomo Raspadori all on target.

The result is a boost for Luciano Spalletti’s Italy team after their poor showing at Euro 2024, when their defence of the title was ended limply by Switzerland in the last 16.

“Italians love football and they have been very sad recently,” Spalletti said. “I am happy tonight because we are relieved to see a better performance. Now we can continue on this road because we saw how much potential we have.”

France, for whom captain Kylian Mbappe struggled to make an impact, picked up where they left off at the Euros, when they never found their best form despite reaching the semi-finals.

“It hurts for all of us,” admitted their coach, Didier Deschamps.

He gave a full international debut to London-born Bayern Munich right-winger Michael Olise, but he was upstaged by Barcola.

The Paris St Germain winger robbed Italy’s Giovanni Di Lorenzo to run through and score, in the process beating the previous quickest French goal, scored after 38 seconds by Bernard Lacombe, also against Italy at the 1978 World Cup.

Italy saw Frattesi hit the bar soon after, but they drew level on the half-hour via a stunning goal, as Dimarco laid the ball off for Sandro Tonali and then met the latter’s first-time return with a sweet volley that flew into the far corner.

Frattesi turned in a Mateo Retegui cross to put Italy ahead early in the second half, and substitute Raspadori got their third goal on 74 minutes.

The winning start in this edition of the Nations League leaves Italy level at the top of Group A2 with Belgium, who beat Israel 3-1 on Friday.

Kevin De Bruyne scored twice for Belgium, including a penalty, either side of a Youri Tielemans goal and a Timothy Castagne own goal in a game played in Hungary after Belgian authorities decided the fixture was too high-risk to host.

Italy face Israel next on Monday, with that match taking place in Budapest due to the security situation in the Middle East. France play Belgium in Lyon.

Elsewhere on Friday, new Wales coach Craig Bellamy saw his side draw 0-0 with Turkey in Cardiff in Group 4 of the second-tier League B.

Turkey left with a point despite having Baris Yilmaz sent off in the second half.

“I am not a master at this after one game, trust me. But I enjoyed it. It was a great country to play against in your first game and I am really happy,” Bellamy told the BBC.

Wales next go to Montenegro, who lost 2-0 in Iceland on Friday.

Erling Haaland drew a blank as Norway were held to a 0-0 draw on their long trip to Kazakhstan in Group B3, while Benjamin Sesko scored a penalty in Slovenia’s 1-1 draw with Austria in the same section.

Romania, with veteran Mircea Lucescu back in charge, won 3-0 in Kosovo in Group C2.

Published in Dawn, September 8th, 2024