Italy’s Donnarumma thankful for Mbappe absence in France showdown

Gianluigi Donnarumma said Saturday that he was grateful Italy wouldn’t have to face his former Paris Saint-Germain teammate Kylian Mbappe in their final Nations League group match with France.

Mbappe was surprisingly dropped for France’s fixtures in November after an underwhelming start to life at Real Madrid this season, with Les Bleus coach Didier Deschamps refusing to say why he had not picked his star player.

France could only manage a fraught goalless draw with Israel on Thursday in Mbappe’s absence, and Deschamps’ team have to win by at least two goals at the San Siro in order to top Group A2.

“It’s a big absence, I know him and he’s one of the best players of the world,” Italy captain Donnarumma told reporters. 

“If he was there he would have caused us problems but they have other players and a lot of quality… They have a lot of good players who can cause us problems and have a lot of energy.”

Italy, who have been rejuvenated over the course of the Nations League group stage, are unbeaten since the Euros and lead France by three points. 

Luciano Spalletti’s team would likely have come into Sunday’s match with a perfect record of five wins from five matches had they not had to play over half of last month’s 2-2 draw with Belgium in Rome with 10 men after taking an early two-goal lead.

Sandro Tonali hailed the spirit in the Italy camp after netting his first international goal in Thursday’s 1-0 win over Belgium in Brussels, saying that the players “couldn’t wait” to get back together at the end of international breaks.

“They’ve found the right solutions for us, and that means that Italy are playing like Italy again,” added Donnarumma.

“After the disappointment of the Euros we needed a jolt, and our aim is to continue to improve, work, have fun and entertain the fans.”