Tough debut for Italy at the Under-21 European Championships in Romania and Georgia: Paolo Nicolato's Azzurrini will take on France tomorrow at the Cluj Arena in the second match of Group D, which also includes Switzerland and Norway (on the pitch at 18:00 CEST). The transalpine team has not won a European Championship since 1988 and has not reached the finals since 2002, but they come to this continental tournament with important ambitions. Italy have been undefeated in 13 of their 16 Under-21 matches against the French side, with six wins and seven draws - only against Sweden (eight) have the Azzurrini collected more 'W' signs. This will be the fourth meeting between the two teams in a European Championship category: the French eliminated the Azzurrini in the 1988 quarter-finals (first and second leg), while the Italians overcame Les Bleuets in the 1994 semi-final (5-3 win on penalties) and won in the 1996 semi-final (1-0 with a goal by Francesco Totti). The qualification path to the tournament, which will be played between Romania and Georgia from 21 June to 8 July, has been particularly positive for both Sylvain Ripoll's and Paolo Nicolato's teams: France (8W, 2D) and Italy (7W, 3D) are in fact two of the five teams that have not recorded any defeats in the preliminary phase.

A lot of goals, a lot of clean sheets: the French among the favourites for the trophy

France will certainly be a tough opponent for Nicolato's Italy. First of all, they have a remarkable offensive potential, as they are one of the five national teams to have scored at least 30 goals in the qualifying rounds together with Spain, Portugal, Germany and the Netherlands. Ripoll's team, in particular, managed 13 different goalscorers in the preliminary round of the Under-21 European Championship (less than only Spain - 16, Croatia and Israel - 14). So many solutions and with so much firepower at their disposal. If in front the transalpine team can make any backline apprehensive, at the same time they have shown themselves to be very solid defensively: only five goals conceded in 10 qualifying matches and seven clean sheets collected by the French group - only the Czech Republic and the Netherlands did better in the preliminary phase (eight each). Numbers that attest to the coaching depth of Les Bleuets, who, after dominating the group with Ukraine, Serbia, Far Oer, Macedonia and Armenia, are at least aiming for the European semi-final, which they last reached in 2019.

 

Gouiri-Cherki the two to watch out for, Kalulu wildcard in defence

The first name in the notebook of the Azzurri's young defenders can only be that of Amine Gouiri, France's top scorer in the 2023 Under-21 European Championship qualifiers with five goals in eight appearances. The 2000 born player from Rennes (15 goals in Ligue 1 22/23) was also, among his teammates, the one who generally took part in the most goals: nine (four assists in addition to the five goals scored). Another danger for the Italian rearguard is undoubtedly Rayan Cherki: the Lyon (2003) trequartista - in the qualifying matches - placed just behind Gouiri in terms of goals scored, but it should be noted that his four came in half as many matches as his compatriot (four vs. eight). The third special player for Scalvini and his teammates is Montpellier striker Elye Wahi. The 2003-born man comes to the Under-21 European Championship with an important calling card: that of the youngest player to have scored at least 15 goals in the five major European championships 2022/23 (19 goals with his club in the Ligue 1 ended at the end of May). He is not an offensive player, but Pierre Kalulu deserves an honourable mention instead. In fact, the 2000-born AC Milan defender, an undisputed pawn in Stefano Pioli's chessboard, knows Serie A very well and will be able to face many of his opponents tomorrow with a certain awareness; one of them being club-mate Sandro Tonali. A challenge within a challenge, heated and hard-fought, like those that have always characterised the confrontations between Italy and France.