France v Italy: Back Zidane to banish the ghosts and enjoy his home debut

Zizou off to a flyer

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Friday 02 October, 19:45
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Having waited for so long to become the coach of France, Zinedine Zidane is finding that his patience is being rewarded in the early weeks of his reign, and there was youthful glee in the way he celebrated Michael Olise's stunning late winner in the 1-0 victory in Belgium. That success followed a 1-0 win in Turkiye, and now Zidane can look forward to his home debut as the coach of Les Bleus.

There is an irony in Zidane's big night being against Italy, the opponents for the biggest disgrace of his storied career. Zidane's costly headbutt on Marco Materazzi in the 2006 World Cup final is an indelible mark on his copybook, although the former Real Madrid boss insists it was all part of his journey and he has no regrets.

Zidane is expected to restore Olise and Ousmane Dembele to his starting XI here. Como midfielder Lucas da Cunha could keep his place after an excellent display against Belgium, while Leny Yoro is battling with Jeremy Jacquet for the chance to partner Dayot Upamecano in defence.

Mancini boosted by Turkiye win

A 4-1 victory over Turkiye in Bursa gave Roberto Mancini's second spell in charge of Italy the lift-off it needed. The difference between that performance and the abject 2-0 home defeat to Belgium was enormous, but the question is whether Mancini can find the cohesion and consistency that underpinned the Azzurri's victory at Euro 2020.

Brentford right-back Michael Kayode had an outstanding debut, making a goal and scoring another, while Sebastiano and Pio Esposito became the first brothers to start together for Italy for more than 100 years.

Mancini picked a much bigger squad than he needed, so he is again expected to make plenty of changes as he looks for successful combinations.

France v Italy Bet Builder - Back Olise to shine again

Given his extraordinary start to the campaign for club and country, Michael Olise is worth backing to score or assist here in a French victory. The Bayern Munich star has scored in five of his seven club appearances and has recorded assists in both the Bundesliga and the Champions League. In the Nations League he set up Kylian Mbappe's winner against Turkiye and scored the winner in Belgium.

I'll back France to make it three wins out of three under Zidane, as they are in far better shape than Mancini's Italy at present, and I'll go for Under 4.5 Goals. Italy know they can't go toe-to-toe with France, and they'll have to try to shut the game down. Only one of Les Bleus' last six internationals have featured five goals or more, and that was that absurd 6-4 defeat to England in the World Cup's third-place playoff.

That treble gives us a price of 2/13.00 on the Bet Builder.

Now read our other Nations League tips here!