Mancini assistant: ‘Italy more aggressive with France, hope to improve performance’

Roberto Mancini’s assistant Antonio Gagliardi insists Italy ‘want to be more aggressive’ and ‘worked on how to emerge’ from the France press after their 1-1 Nations League draw.

It kicks off at San Siro in Milan at 19.45 GMT (20.45 CET).

You can follow all the build-up and action as it happens on the Liveblog.

Going into Matchday 5, France were top of Group A1 with 10 points, followed by Italy on seven and Belgium six.

Kylian Mbappé is not even on the bench due to a hamstring injury, but Serie A players Mike Maignan, Adrien Rabiot and Lucas Da Cunha start.

“France have some remarkable talent available, especially upfront,” Mancini’s assistant Gagliardi told Sky Sport Italia.

The Azzurri earned a 1-1 draw in Paris last month, the only game Zinedine Zidane has failed to win so far on the France bench.

“We think that we had a good performance in Paris, so the coach worked on how to emerge from their press, and being at home we want to be more aggressive when they build up play.”

The differences from the starting XI in Paris last month are Nicolò Barella for Nicolò Fagioli and Nicolò Cambiaghi coming on for injured Moise Kean, therefore moving Sebastiano Esposito over to the right flank.

“We haven’t had much time to work, but that is true of everyone. If we can add these details, then we feel we can further improve on the performance in France.”

San Siro is sold out this evening, and the Nazionale hope there can be a change of fortunes, seeing as they have lost their last three games in this stadium.

“The love for the Italy shirt never disappears, and Italy-France is always a fascinating fixture. This is our third game in the last four with an average age of circa 24 years, so that helps the fans identify with the team, and see a bright future for this Nazionale,” concluded Gagliardi.