Ousmane Dembele’s strike seals French victory over Italy

France defeated Italy 3-1 yesterday in Nice with the help of goals from Samuel Umtiti, Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembele. Leonardo Bonucci was the solo goalscorer for the Italians.

The match began with both teams looking to score although the French looked more of a threat and with just 8 minutes on the clock Umtiti got them in front after scoring from close range.

Italy had now a tough task of founding an equalizer and they had their struggles as they failed to find one.

The match was made more difficult by the French for the Italians when they scored their second goal in the 29th minute.

Lucas Hernandez was brought down in the box by Rolando Mandragora and the penalty was awarded to France. Antoine Griezmann made no mistake in converting the penalty and France had a two goal cushion.

The Azzurri though had one back in the 36th minute when Leonardo Bonucci scored after a mistake from Hugo Lloris.

The match was well poised then and we had no goals until half-time despite some quality football being played. We reached the break with France leading Italy 2-1.

It was now for Italy to get back into the game with an equalizer but they failed to do so and things looked tough for them.

The match was all but over for the Italians when Ousmane Dembele scored a beautiful goal in the 63rd minute.

France lead 3-1 as Italy chased the game and stared at defeat. No further goals were scored in the game as France won the friendly.

It is a learning lesson for the Italians but for France they are on the right path as the world cup nears and with the talent in their squad, they have good chances in Russia.

Both teams have one more friendlies left each.