Zidane sinks after his defence collapses: France's newspapers sound the alarm

France, under the leadership of Zinedine Zidane, suffered their first defeat since the French coach took charge of the role, after falling to Italy 3-1 on Thursday evening at the San Siro in the UEFA Nations League, in a match that exposed a number of weaknesses that need addressing within Les Bleus.

France went to Milan with real ambition despite missing a clutch of key players, chief among them Ousmane Dembélé, Kylian Mbappé and Jules Koundé. Michael Olise duly put them ahead, pouncing on an error from Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.

The lead did not last. France collapsed in the second half, shipping three goals and losing the first match of the Zidane era.

Their place in the race for the quarter-finals is not yet decisively affected, but Les Bleus will need to seal qualification against Turkey on Sunday in Bordeaux.

Zidane faces no pressure on his position for now. Still, the defeat at the San Siro raised plenty of question marks in the French and European press.

French reporters homed in on the collapse after the break. The side had looked good in the first half before losing its balance completely.

The digital edition of L'Équipe called the match the "first stumble" of the Zidane era, while its print edition highlighted the dramatic shift in performance, speaking of a "French collapse" after the interval, especially at the back, where both full-backs continued to disappoint.

Its main headline landed hard: "Drenched: they drowned", a nod to the heavy rain that fell on Milan during the match as well as to France's second-half collapse.

Le Parisien, meanwhile, focused on France's lack of rigour and defensive solidity, along with the limited international experience of the young group Zidane relies on, branding some of the players still "very fragile" at this level.

A picture of Zidane sat on the cover of its print edition, accompanied by the phrase "First stumble of the Zidane era".

Italy celebrated the win over France in full voice, especially after missing the last three World Cups. The Italian press believes the team has begun a rebuild and praised coach Roberto Mancini as the "ideal man" to lead the phase.

German media showed little concern about France's situation. Sky Sport focused on Zidane's reassuring post-match comments while noting the team still has "room to develop".

Bild barely dwelt on the defeat, limiting itself to the fact that it was Zidane's first loss since taking charge of France.

Over in England, Harry Kane's brilliance and his place in Three Lions history dominated most of the coverage. The Italy-France clash drew little attention, beyond a reference to Zidane suffering his first defeat with Les Bleus.

Spain led with the national team's win over the Czech Republic, though AS also noted Zidane's first loss with France.

France's defeat got more space on the paper's website, where its correspondent in France tackled what he called the "reliance on Mbappé" under the headline "A big predicament without Mbappé".

The report pointed to France's struggles in attack and lack of cutting edge, allied to the major defensive errors. It singled out Malo Gusto for criticism, describing his "disastrous match" and claiming he had severely tested Zidane's patience.

Striking a more pessimistic tone than the rest of the European press, AS reckoned France's chances of topping the group were now "seriously threatened", viewing a win over Turkey as necessary to avoid real "drama" in the next stage.