Kean: ‘I tried to surprise Maignan’ in last gasp chance

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·17 November 2024

Kean: ‘I tried to surprise Maignan’ in last gasp chance

Moise Kean ‘tried to surprise’ Mike Maignan with that stoppage-time chance that would’ve given Italy top spot in the Nations League group, but feels they can ‘learn’ from the loss to France.

The Azzurri knew that even a defeat by one clear goal would suffice to win the Nations League group this evening, as both teams were already qualified for the quarter-finals.

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However, Les Bleus opened the scoring within 119 seconds through Adrien Rabiot’s header on a corner, while Lucas Digne’s free kick took a double ricochet into the net off the crossbar and Guglielmo Vicario’s back.

Andrea Cambiaso got one back, though Rabiot nodded in another Digne free kick, meaning all of the last six goals conceded by Italy were from set play situations.

Kean had best Italy chance

MILAN, ITALY – NOVEMBER 17: Mike Maignan of France gestures during the UEFA Nations League 2024/25 League A Group A2 match between Italy and France at San Siro on November 17, 2024 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

A defeat by one clear goal would’ve allowed Italy to win the group on a superior head-to-head record, having won 3-1 in France, but substitute Kean forced a desperate Mike Maignan save in stoppages.

“Maignan did really well, I tried to surprise him. We played a good game and were unlucky on the result, but we can learn from this,” Kean told RAI Sport.

“There weren’t many spaces to attack, France have some very good defenders and we’ve got to take the lessons from that.”

Although Italy are not top seeds in the draw for the Nations League quarter-finals, they did still qualify with a game to spare and only finished behind France on overall goal difference.

They won every match except for the 2-2 draw against Belgium when down to 10 men and this defeat to France.

“I think we’ve showed in this Nations League that we are a very good team, the coach has us playing in a way to get the best out of us, there are lots of young players eager to prove themselves,” added Kean.