France vs Italy 1-1: Olise strikes, Bastoni hits back and Upamecano sees red on Zidane’s first Stade de France night

France vs Italy finished 1-1 at the Stade de France on Friday night, and Zinedine Zidane will have to wait for his first home win as France head coach. Michael Olise put France ahead with a free kick that crashed in off the underside of the crossbar on 55 minutes. Alessandro Bastoni levelled 13 minutes later, and Dayot Upamecano was sent off with five minutes left for a second yellow card.

The draw keeps France top of UEFA Nations League A Group 1 on seven points, one ahead of Belgium, who beat Türkiye 3-0 in Liège on the same night. Italy sit third on four.

It was a night built around Zidane. The stadium greeted him with a mosaic, according to ESPN’s match report, on his first international match on home soil since he retired as a player after the 2006 World Cup final against, of all teams, Italy. He arrived with two wins and two clean sheets from two games. He left with neither run intact.

How the France vs Italy goals went in

The first half was tight, and the breakthrough came from a dead ball. Olise stepped up from roughly 25 yards and hit the underside of the bar, with the ball dropping over the line beyond Gianluigi Donnarumma. It was his second goal of this Nations League campaign, after his 88th minute winner in Brussels last week, which we covered in our Belgium vs France report.

Italy’s equaliser came from pressure rather than a set piece. ESPN reports that Bastoni stepped into midfield, intercepted a French pass and carried on into the area before finishing with his left foot. That is two goals in two games for the Inter defender, who also opened the scoring in Italy’s 4-1 win in Türkiye on Monday.

Upamecano’s dismissal arrived in the 85th minute. Goal says his first booking came after a row with Moise Kean, and both Goal and ESPN say the second was for pulling the same striker back. Italy pushed for a winner against ten men but could not find one.

Italy owed plenty to their goalkeeper. The Italian federation’s match report credits Donnarumma with saves from Désiré Doué, Ousmane Dembélé, Olise, Adrien Rabiot and Eduardo Camavinga, which is a fair summary of how much of the ball France had.

Key numbers and the Group 1 table

• 3: goals France have scored in three group games. Olise has two of them. The other settled the 1-0 win in Türkiye.
• 1: goals France have conceded so far, Bastoni’s on Friday.
• 2: games in a row Bastoni has scored for Italy.
• 3-1 and 1-3: the two previous meetings, both in the 2024/25 Nations League. Italy won 3-1 in Paris in September 2024, France won 3-1 at San Siro that November.

What’s next: France vs Belgium and Italy vs Türkiye on Monday

Matchday four comes quickly. On Monday, October 5, France host Belgium at the Stade de France and Italy host Türkiye at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara in Bologna. Both games kick off at 8:45pm local time, which is 7:45pm in the UK, 2:45pm ET in the US and 11:45pm in Pakistan.

France vs Belgium is now a straight fight for first place. A Belgian win would lift them above France. France will likely be without Upamecano, because a red card in UEFA competition normally brings an automatic one match ban.

Why this group matters: the Nations League format in brief

League A has 16 teams in four groups of four, and each side plays six games across September, October and November. The top two in each group go through to the quarter-finals in March 2027, and the four quarter-final winners reach the Nations League Finals in June 2027. With three games left, France, Belgium and Italy are all still in the hunt for those two places, and only Türkiye look adrift.

Sources

• ESPN: France 1-1 Italy match report
• FIGC: official Italy match report
• 2026/27 UEFA Nations League A: results, table and fixtures
• beIN Sports: France vs Italy live blog
• Goal: Bastoni cancels out Olise as ten man France are held
• Fox Sports: Italy vs France, November 2024