France vs Italy
UEFA Women’s Euro 2022
Group D
New York Stadium-Rotherham
France vs Italy: Match report
Full time score: France 5-1 Italy
Goals: 9′ Geyoro, 12′ Katoto, 15′ Katoto, 38′ Cascarino, 40′ Geyoro, 45′ Geyoro, 76′ Piemonte.
Lineups
France: Peyraud-Magnin; Périsset, Tounkara, Renard, Karchaoui (Baltimore 87); Geyoro (Dali 67), Bilbault, Toletti; Diani (Bacha 77), Katoto (Sarr 77), Cascarino (Malard 67)
Italy: Giuliani; Bartoli, Gama, Linari, Boattin; Galli (Rosucci 46), Giugliano (Simonetti 46), Caruso (Piemonte 74); Bergamaschi, Girelli (Giacinti 58), Bonansea (Di Guglielmo 81)
Post match reactions
Corinne Diacre, France coach: “We wanted to get off to a flying start in the first half and hats off to my players! We felt great synergy and we saw that in the first half. It’s always good to have a great first game, but nothing is decided. We should savour this victory as the performance in the first half was so good.”
Grace Geyoro, Visa Player of the Match: “Today I was able to convert a lot of the chances I got. But it’s collective work, I was just back from injury. And I wanted to start strongly, and that was important to me.”
Milena Bertolini, Italy coach: “Of course it’s not the night we dreamed of, but we knew France are strong. We need to focus on the next games. We couldn’t imagine losing like this, but let’s give France credit as well. I told my players to come onto the pitch in the second half as if the game was 0-0; they did just that and it was not easy after that first half.”
Cristiana Girelli, Italy forward: “It’s not the start we wanted, but we can take the reaction in the second half to look ahead. We had a good chance early on; maybe it could have changed things. We knew France were strong. We had a blackout in the first 45 minutes.”
Lisa Boattin, Italy defender: “Maybe it was the nerves that got to us at first. I don’t like to talk about my individual performance; we win and lose as a team.”
