Down to 10 men for over a half, the National Under-17s team suffered a second narrow defeat in Clairefontaine against France. After the 2-1 loss two days ago, the boys of Bernardo Corradi were beaten 4-3 by the Bleus: Gabriele Paolocci’s (Lazio) 38^th minute red card changed the game. He himself had momentarily put Italy 2-1 up: Emanuele Rao (Spal) and Mattia Mannini (Roma) scored the other two goals for Italy, who will be in Cyprus from 7th to 13th March in the Elite Round of qualification for the European Championships, against the hosts, the Republic of Ireland and Ukraine. Two places are up for grabs for the final phase scheduled in mid-May in Hungary.

"It was confirmed to me that this team has character" - the words of Corradi -. "It's a pity for about the red, but not for the sending off itself, as much as because matches like these serve to test systems and understand what is missing. In any case, the performance of the boys was excellent, because it's not easy against a team like France to play over 50 minutes with a numerical disadvantage. In the one-on-one they have something more than us, but we didn't let them dominate us: on the contrary, in the final minutes we could have even equalised. At the end of the match we congratulated each other with the coach of France, saying goodbye with the hope that both of us will see each other again in Budapest."

It was Mohamed-Amine Bouchenna, a Clermont player, who broke the deadlock by converting a penalty kick awarded after a foul by Verde. After a painful start, Italy reacted and turned it around, with goals from Rao and Paolocci, who finished off a great technical move. The latter's sending off, however, changed the course of the match: in the first quarter of an hour of the second half, Eli Junior Kroupi - already the scorer of the decisive brace on Tuesday in the first friendly match - scored two more goals, with Bouchenna also scoring his second goal 20 minutes into the second half. Mannini's free-kick in the 28th minute brought Italy back in in the game, but late pressure did not bring an equaliser.

 

The National Under-17 team will meet on Tuesday 28 February in Rome, where they will remain until Friday 3 March, when Corradi will choose the official list of 20 players who will leave the following day for Cyprus, the destination of the Elite Round.