In the early hours of the 7th, the Serie A powerhouse ended its rival's winning streak with a 3-1 reversal against France in a thrilling European clash. However, the victory came at a heavy price, with midfield centerpiece Caracoli unfortunately injured. The Arsenal club suffered a major blow as a result, with Caracoli following Mikel Hernandez onto the "injury list", and both of the summer's major additions suffering from injuries.
Italy regretted their exit in the round of 16 of this year's Europa League. Head coach Luciano Spalletti made significant changes to his starting lineup, but the game opened with a goal conceded just 14 seconds in. Barthelemy Bakona opened the scoring for France when he danced down the left side of the pitch and broke into the penalty area. It's worth noting that the 22-year-old Paris Saint-Germain star has scored in four consecutive matches for both club and country.
Despite having a great shot on goal with French star Kylian Mbappe, it was valiantly saved by Italian goalkeeper Kianlucki Lomma to avoid a second goal. However, Italy turned things around within 30 minutes. Sindo Donnelly scored a textbook goal in just 30 minutes as Federico Di Marco made it 1-1 with a clever shot from the left side of the box.
On the changeover, Big Faddis and Raspaudini scored to help the Italians seal a 3-1 win, their first in the last four matches. However, Caracoli left the game in the 71st minute of the match with a worrying injury. The 22-year-old joined Arsenal for £42 million (around HK$430 million) this summer but is out for two months due to an injury sustained by Mikel Hernandez in early training. Karakoli's re-injury has undoubtedly worried Arsenal boss Ardida.
Fortunately, according to Italy coach Luciano Spalletti, Caracoli's injury is not serious and is even expected to return to action against Israel next Tuesday (10th).
