Erling Haaland Fails To Score Against World No. 109, Italy Beat France In UEFA Nations League

Erling Haaland failed to score as Norway were held to a 0-0 draw on their long trip to Kazakhstan in Group B3, while Benjamin Sesko scored a penalty in Slovenia's 1-1 draw with Austria in the same section. Kazakhstan, who are ranked 109th in the FIFA World Rankings, were able to deny Haaland the Norwegian striker who has bagged seven goals in his first three Premier League games for Manchester City. Italy recovered from conceding inside 13 seconds to fight back and beat France 3-1 in their UEFA Nations League clash in Paris on Friday, while Belgium beat Israel and Wales drew with Turkey.

Bradley Barcola had opened the scoring at the Parc des Princes with the fastest ever goal by a France player, but the home side failed to build on that stunning start and Italy ran out deserved winners with Federico Dimarco, Davide Frattesi and Giacomo Raspadori all on target.

The result is a boost for Luciano Spalletti's Italy team after their poor showing at Euro 2024, when their defence of the title was ended limply by Switzerland in the last 16.

"Italians love football and they have been very sad recently," Spalletti said.

"I am happy tonight because we are relieved to see a better performance.

"Now we can continue on this road because we saw how much potential we have."

France, for whom captain Kylian Mbappe struggled to make an impact, picked up where they left off at the Euros, when they never found their best form despite reaching the semi-finals.

"It hurts for all of us," admitted their coach, Didier Deschamps.

He gave a full international debut to London-born Bayern Munich right-winger Michael Olise, but he was upstaged by Barcola.

The Paris Saint-Germain winger robbed Italy's Giovanni Di Lorenzo to run through and score, in