France’s Trident Of Griezmann, Dembélé And Mbappé Looked As Good As It Sounds Against Italy

A front line of Antoine Griezmann, Ousmane Dembélé and Kylian Mbappé sounds terrifying. Italy just found out exactly how terrifying. The three-man attack played a key role in all three goals in a 3-1 win for France vs Italy in a pre-World Cup friendly in Nice on Friday evening. 

France manager Didier Deschamps started the fearsome forward trio against Italy’s generally well-regarded back line in Les Bleus’ penultimate warm-up match for the World Cup. 

Here's our starting line-up for #FRAITA! #FiersdetreBleus #RoadToRussia pic.twitter.com/YiYE1NbDGq

— French Team (@FrenchTeam) June 1, 2018

A midfield three of Paul Pogba, N’Golo Kanté and Corentin Tolisso doesn’t sound so bad either. This team is loaded. 

It didn’t take long for France to breach the Italian defense, which doesn’t quite have the same intimidation factor without Gianluigi Buffon in goal. Although defender Samuel Umtiti finished off the play, it started with a free kick from Griezmann and ended with a tap-in after a close-range shot from Mbappé was blocked less than eight minutes into the match. 

Griezmann made it 2-0 in the 29th minute when he hit a well-placed penalty kick past Salvatore Sirigu after left back Lucas Hernández was taken down in the box. 

Leonardo Bonucci, the only Italian with more than 50 caps in the squad, pulled one back for Italy in the 36th minute. The AC Milan defender pounced on a rebound after Hugo Lloris couldn’t handle a Mario Balotelli free kick.

But Dembélé finished off the France vs Italy match in the 63rd minute with the game’s best goal, highlighting the attacking quality of a Griezmann-Dembélé-Mbappé front three. The play began with Mbappé rushing up the pitch with Griezmann and Dembélé making runs to either side of him. 

Though the two remaining Italian defenders did well to cut off the passing lanes and poke the ball away, it wasn’t enough as Dembélé simply lined up a beautiful curler from the edge of the 18 (hey, that’s the name of our website!).

France’s final World Cup tune-up is June 9 against the United States. We can’t wait to see what the Griezmann-Dembélé-Mbappé trident does to a defense featuring an average age of about 12. 

Les Bleus open the 2018 World Cup against Australia on June 16. They’ll be trying to prove EA Sports correct after FIFA 18 predicted France would win it all this summer.