Italy vs. France lineups, predicted starting 11, confirmed team news: Moise Kean pushing to start

Italy can close out top spot in League A of the UEFA Nations League when they host France at San Siro on Sunday.

Luciano Spalletti's side ignited their impressive run on the back of their woeful Euro 2024 campaign with a 3-1 win from behind at the Parc des Princes in September.

France played out a frustrating 0-0 draw against Israel at a sparsely populated Stade de France in midweek and must now beat the Azzurri by two clear goals to usurp them as group winners.

Italy came out on top in another tightly contested affair against Israel, with Sandro Tonali scoring the only goal.

The Sporting News looks through the latest team news and predicted lineups for this heavyweight clash.

MORE: UEFA Nations League fixtures, results, schedule and format for European international football competition

Italy vs. France lineups, confirmed starting 11, team news

Moise Kean's stop-start international career could get another shot at lift-off if Spalletti opts to start the in-form Fiorentina striker, who has eight goals in 11 Serie A matches this season and notched a hat-trick against Hellas Verona last weekend.

Torino midfielder Samuele Ricci was ruled out for this international break with an injury and Italy were not as fluent in his absence against Belgium. Manuel Locatelli has not been flavour of the month under Spalletti so far but could get the nod over Nicolo Rovella

Italy (3-4-2-1, right to left): Donnarumma (GK) — Di Lorenzo, Buongiorno, Bastoni —Cambiaso, Frattesi, Locatelli, Dimarco — Tonali, Barella — Kean

Full squad:

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Donnarumma, Alex Meret, Guglielmo Vicario

Defenders: Nicolo Savona, Federico Dimarco, Alessandro Buongiorno, Federico Gatti, Caleb Okoli, Pietro Comuzzo, Destiny Udogie, Andrea Cambiaso, Alessandro Bastoni, Giovanni Di Lorenzo

Midfielders: Manuel Locatelli, Sandro Tonali, Nicolo Rovella, Davide Frattesi, Nicolo Barella, Niccolo Pisilli

Forwards: Daniel Maldini, Mateo Retegui, Giacomo Raspadori, Moise Kean

France boss Didier Deschamps will once again look to reconfigure his attack without the absent Kylian Mbappe. It feels like a coin toss between Randal Kolo Muani and Marcus Thuram over who will start at centre-forward. Bradley Barcola and Michael Olise will support from the flanks

Inter star Thuram will feature at his home ground, something he has in common with AC Milan duo Mike Maignan and Theo Hernandez.

France (4-2-3-1 right to left): Maignan (GK) — Kounde, Konate, Saliba, Hernandez — Kante, Rabiot — Olise, Zaire-Emery, Barcola — Thuram 

Full squad:

Goalkeepers: Brice Samba, Mike Maignan, Lucas Chevalier

Defenders: Benjamin Pavard, Lucas Digne, Dayot Upamecano, Jules Kounde, Ibrahima Konate, William Saliba, Jonathan Clauss, Theo Hernandez

Midfielders: Matteo Guendouzi, N'Golo Kante, Adrien Rabiot, Warren Zaire-Emery, Manu Kone

Forwards: Michael Olise, Marcus Thuram, Christopher Nkunku, Kingsley Coman, Randal Kolo Muani, Bradley Barcola

Italy vs. France of Ireland live stream, TV channel

Here's how to watch this UEFA Nations League match across selected areas of the world's major regions: