Italian television cameras caught the Italy bench with their arms in the air the instant Olise’s free kick dipped off the underside of the crossbar and bounced in.

“They all threw their hands up; there’s nothing else you can do in a situation like that,” RAI pitchside reporter Tiziana Alla told viewers as the replay rolled.

The strike arrived in the 55th minute, according to the official match data, with Gianluigi Donnarumma rooted to his line. For a few minutes it looked like the goal that would decide the night.

Bastoni’s reply, 13 minutes later

Italy did not fold. Bastoni won the ball high up the pitch in the 68th minute, carried it into the area and finished past Mike Maignan to level the scoreline. It was the first goal France had conceded since Zidane took charge in the summer, having kept clean sheets in his first two Nations League fixtures.

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The visitors then had to see out the closing stages against ten men. Dayot Upamecano picked up a second yellow in the 85th minute for a foul on Moise Kean, but neither side could land the winner.

Mancini’s third match back

The draw was only Roberto Mancini’s third match since he was asked to pick up a national team in crisis. He was reappointed on 28 July, after Gennaro Gattuso resigned in April following the World Cup qualifying defeat to Bosnia and Herzegovina, a third straight failure to reach the tournament for the four-time world champions.

Mancini had been candid about the gap before kick-off. “France are one of the best teams in the world and they’re full of incredible players,” he told reporters in his press conference. “They’re much further along than we are, but this match will tell us a lot about what we’re capable of and what we can achieve over the coming months.”

Why Olise’s free kick looked unstoppable

The 24-year-old is in the form of his career. Olise was voted Bundesliga Player of the Season for 2025/26 after 15 goals and 19 assists in Vincent Kompany’s title-winning Bayern Munich side, and he has carried that form into the new campaign.

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He sits joint-top of the Bundesliga scoring chart after four matchdays with four goals, three of them a hat-trick in Bayern’s 7-0 win over Union Berlin on matchday 4.

For France this was a third straight Nations League result without defeat under Zidane, who was named Didier Deschamps’ successor in July on a four-year contract through to the 2030 World Cup.

For Italy, a point in Paris was the first of their Nations League campaign after an opening 2-0 defeat to Belgium under Mancini’s charge.

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