Italy vs. France: The Bleus are stunned and bitter: “A questionable penalty.” Former player: “The Italians hate us.”

In France, there is astonishment and surprise following the French team’s defeat at San Siro. Zinedine Zidane’s Les Bleus were the favorites against Roberto Mancini’s team, but after a strong first half, they fell apart in the second half, as the head coach himself noted in his post-game comments: “We ran into trouble, especially on defense.”

Defender Jérémy Jacquet analyzed the loss on TF1: “We faced a team that plays very well with a deep defensive block. We conceded two goals—both the same way—from crosses. And after that, we weren’t able to mount an attack. We tried, we played a lot, I don’t know how many shots we took… We lacked incisiveness both in attack and in defense.”

For Jacquet, the penalty that made it 3-1 was questionable: “It’s debatable, like all penalties, but I don’t think that’s what decided the game. We could have won this game, but we need to move on quickly. We want to finish first in the group and qualify.”

Andy Diouf added: “We struggled in the second half. We weren’t good enough in tackles and on second balls, and that’s what made the difference. Ultimately, the goal is first place. We’ll focus on that right away. We faced an excellent Italian team, well-organized defensively. We couldn’t find a way to break down their defense.”

Speaking from the Canal Plus studios, former Roma and Inter midfielder Olivier Dacourt commented on the team’s lack of experience and character: “Finding yourself down 3-1 like that, in Italy… and I can assure you that the Italians hate us every time there’s an Italy-France match. It’s always a special game for them. If there aren’t players who bring a little grit…”.