Italy will start Sandro Tonali, Riccardo Calafiori, Lorenzo Pellegrini and Matteo Retegui in their Nations League match against France, including a trio of Milan players and Kylian Mbappé.
It starts at 7:45 p.m. British time (6:45 p.m. GMT) at the Parc des Princes in Paris.
In the LIVEBLOG you can follow all the preparation and action live.
This is the opening game of the Nations League in a group that also includes Belgium and Israel, who play each other tonight, while the Azzurri face the latter on Monday evening.
Luciano Spalletti announced big changes after the disastrous EURO 2024: he put his tactical experiments on hold and stuck with a three-man defense instead.
Alessandro Bastoni has overcome a setback to return to Italy’s starting line-up. Tonali is joined by Samuele Ricci and Davide Frattesi, who returns to international duty after serving a 10-month ban for breaching betting rules.
Nicolò Barella is out after an operation on his sinuses and Nicolò Zaniolo is still injured.
Retegui was selected as a star player as only three players remain from the starting line-up that lost the round of 16 against Switzerland.
Lorenzo Pellegrini is a surprise, possibly in a trequartista role, while Andrea Cambiaso is chosen instead of Raoul Bellanova.
France had to contend with injury problems in the run-up to this match. In addition, Olivier Giroud had to end his international career and Adrien Rabiot is still without a club.
Wesley Fofana, Ferland Mendy and Aurelien Tchaouameni all withdrew and were replaced by Loic Badé, Lucas Digne and Lazio midfielder Matteo Guendouzi.
However, Badé has also suffered a muscle injury and, surprisingly, Liverpool’s Ibrahim Konaté is in the starting line-up, even though he did not play a single minute at EURO 2024.
Although they reached the semi-finals of the European Championship, they only scored one goal from open play, meaning Didier Deschamps also has to face his critics.
Real Madrid’s new player, Mbappé, takes over the position of centre-forward and will be supported by young players Michael Olise and Bradley Barcola.
Antoine Griezmann is also in the starting line-up instead of Randal Kolo Muane.
There are three Milan players in the starting eleven: Mike Maignan, Theo Hernandez and Youssouf Fofana.
Lineups France vs. Italy
France: Maignan; Clauss, Konate, Saliba, Theo Hernandez; Y Fofana, Kanté; Griezmann, Olise, Barcola; Mbappe
Italy: Donnarumma; Di Lorenzo, Bastoni, Calafiori; Cambiaso, Frattesi, Ricci, Tonali, Dimarco; Pellegrini; Retegui
Reference: Schärer (SUI)
