Italy’s Donnarumma thankful for Mbappe absence in France showdown

Gianluigi Donnarumma said Saturday that he was grateful Italy would not 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 their dismal European Championship title defence in the summer 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.

‘Right solutions’

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 once returning to their clubs.

“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.”

Set to play in attack for France is Inter Milan forward Marcus Thuram, who has disappointed for his country but will take the field in familiar surroundings on Sunday.

Thuram, the son of French football icon Lilian, has been a revelation for Inter, netting 23 times since signing from Borussia Moenchengladbach last year.

But while he has become a key player for Serie A’s best team, he has only scored twice in 28 international appearances with his most recent goal for Les Bleus coming against minnows Gibraltar just over a year ago.

“He’s doing really well at Inter. He’s obviously been less effective for the national team but it will come,” said defender Ibrahim Konate.

“We’re not worried about it because he has everything. It will come bit by bit.”