Roberto Mancini says Italy will approach their Nations League meeting with France believing they can win, despite the gap between the two sides in the FIFA World Rankings and their recent head-to-head record.
Italy travel to the Stade de France with three points from their opening two matches in Group A1. They lost 2-0 at home to Belgium in Mancini’s first game in charge since 2023, before responding with a 4-1 victory in Turkiye.
France, managed by Zinedine Zidane, have taken maximum points so far and represent a significant challenge for the Azzurri. Italy have won only three of their past 15 encounters with France since 1982, drawing twice and losing 10 times.
Their most notable success in that period came in the 2006 World Cup final, when Italy defeated France on penalties.
Italy are ranked 15th in the world, 12 places below third-placed France, but Mancini does not want his side to adopt a defensive or underdog mentality.
“It will certainly be a great game against a top team, full of extraordinary players, but we always want to make a good impression and will do our best,” Mancini said, as quoted by Football Italia.
“When you are up against such strong teams, you never play not to win, so naturally we must always play looking for the victory. After that, anything can happen.”
Bastoni calls for confidence and patience
Alessandro Bastoni scored Italy’s first goal against Turkiye, helping to put behind him the disappointment of March’s World Cup qualification play-off defeat by Bosnia-Herzegovina. The defender was sent off shortly before half-time in that match.
Italy have endured a difficult period, becoming the first former World Cup winners to miss three consecutive editions of the tournament. Bastoni believes restoring confidence and self-esteem must therefore be a central part of Mancini’s work with the squad.
“We are capable of having our say in a one-off match against anyone, but we also want to be consistent and make sure that Italy have an identity on the pitch,” Bastoni said.
“Our standard has to be the one we saw in the most recent match.
“Everyone hopes to get results as soon as possible, but we must also recognise we’re at the start of this process. After the game against with Turkiye, we need patience, as more tough moments will come.
“The coach is working on our self-esteem. In Italy, we’re very good at moaning, feeling sorry for ourselves and focusing on all the negatives.
“But in my view, we should also learn to say when we have done something good. too. The more we say it, the more we’ll start to believe it, so we’ve got to work on that.
“I’ve seen strong characters in the squad, they aren’t afraid to try something new, and that touch is probably what we needed.”
