Donnarumma: France can still hurt Italy without Mbappe

Gianluigi Donnarumma says Kylian Mbappe's absence will not stop Italy from underestimating France ahead of their top-flight Nations League match.

Both teams have already qualified for the quarter-finals, but the top position in Group A2 is still up for grabs.

Italy currently sit top of the table, three points ahead of France, who they beat 3-1 in early September, but a win for Les Bleus could see them drop to second place.

However, for the second international break in a row, France are without captain Mbappe, with Didier Deschamps insisting he made the decision to leave the Real Madrid forward out of the squad.

France are unbeaten in their last three games without Mbappe, winning two and drawing one. Although they struggled in front of goal in a 0-0 stalemate last time out against Israel, Donnarumma believes they will still pose a threat to the Azzurri.

“Yes, I don't know anything about the choices made by other teams. I don't know what happened, it is [Mbappe] certainly an important absence,” Donnarumma told a press conference.

“I know Kylian, he is one of the strongest in the world and if he had been here he could have caused us a lot of problems, but there will be other players.

“I know them all well, they have great quality and want strong attackers [Bradley] Barcola, [Randal] Kolo Muani and [Warren] Zaire-Emery, who play with me. Barcola is an incredible talent, so they have very strong substitutes who can trouble us.”

Straight back to #Azzurri #VivoAzzurro pic.twitter.com/QsLHZEnbIw

— Italy (@Azzurri_En) November 15, 2024

Italy are unbeaten in the Nations League, having only dropped points in a 2-2 draw against Belgium in October after being down to ten men.

It comes on the back of a disappointing Euro 2024 campaign, which saw them knocked out by Switzerland in the round of 16, winning just one match in their title defence.

However, Donnarumma believes Italy have found their rhythm again and have more in common with the Euro 2020 winning team.

“It's a healthy group, I'm starting to see the spirit of the old European Championship,” he added. “They are all young boys who want to show what they can do, who want to wear this jersey.

“The difficult part is to continue these achievements. Our goal now is to keep improving, working and enjoying and entertaining the fans.”