Nations League line-ups: Italy vs. France

Italy rely on the Esposito brothers, Sandro Tonali, Riccardo Calafiori and Michael Kayode in the Nations League, as France look to Michael Olise, Désiré Doué and Bradley Barcola, with Kylian Mbappé injured.

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.

This is a head-to-head for the top of Group A1, where France go into this round on 10 points, followed by Italy with seven and Belgium six, but only the first two teams will enter the quarter-finals of the tournament.

The Azzurri had a disastrous start to the group, losing 2-0 at home to Belgium, followed by back-to-back victories over Turkiye and an impressive 1-1 draw in Paris last month.

Roberto Mancini sticks to his 4-3-3 formation, with Pio and Sebastiano Esposito joined by Bologna’s Niccolò Cambiaghi in the trident attack.

Tonali, Lazio’s on form Davide Frattesi and Inter midfielder Nicolò Barella are in midfield, with Kayode of Brentford and Arsenal’s Calafiori chosen as full-backs, leaving Federico Dimarco on the bench.

Gianluigi Donnarumma will hope the Milan fans can finally stop jeering him every time he plays at San Siro, as they have still not forgiven his exit as a free agent in 2021.

This stadium has not been kind for Italy lately, as they lost their last three matches here.

Gianluca Mancini and Nicolò Zaniolo withdrew from the squad, while Mattia Liberali, Alphadjo Cisse, Niccolò Pisilli, Matteo Palma, Federico Gatti and Honest Ahanor were left out ahead of the final trip to Brussels.

France have won every game under Zinedine Zidane except for the 1-1 with the Azzurri, but Mbappé is named on the bench, even if he is not expected to play due to a hamstring issue.

It’s only the latest in a long line of injuries, including Inter’s Marcus Thuram, Juventus defender Pierre Kalulu, Roma midfielder Manu Koné, Ousmane Dembélé, Aurelien Tchouameni, William Saliba, Jules Koundé, Maxence Lacroix, Maghnes Akliouche and Esteban Lepaul.

It is therefore a reshuffle trident attack with Olise, Doué and Barcola likely to be fluid in their positions to confuse the opposition defenders.

Serie A representation is provided by Milan pair Mike Maignan and Adrien Rabiot, plus Como midfielder Lucas Da Cunha, though Inter’s Andy Diouf is on the bench.

Italy: Donnarumma; Kayode, Scalvini, Bastoni, Calafiori; Frattesi, Tonali, Barella; Sebastiano Esposito, Pio Esposito, Cambiaghi

France: Maignan; Gusto, Jacquet, Upamecano, Truffert; Cherki, Da Cunha, Rabiot; Olise, Doué, Barcola

Ref: Kovacs (ROU)

Italy

Positions

France

05-10-2026

Turkey

W

3 - 1

02-10-2026

France

D

1 - 1

28-09-2026

Turkey

W

1 - 4

25-09-2026

Belgium

L

0 - 2

	0 - 1	W	Belgium		28-09-2026
	0 - 1	W	Turkey		25-09-2026